Notorious B.I.G.'s Plastic Crown Sells for $600,000 at Auction

[Mr. Babatunde]

The iconic plastic crown of The Infamous B.I.G. was sold today at an auction for a whopping $594,750.

The plastic crown signed with 1997 'K.O.N.Y. The photo session (the King of New York) was on sale along with several other important pieces of hip-hop history, courtesy of Sotheby's first ever hip-hop auction on Tuesday. The first estimate for the crown's sale, originally purchased for only $6, was $200,000 and $300,000 but it was easily beaten.

Biggie's crown was put up for sale by photographer Barron Claiborne who had kept the item in a photo shoot for Rap Pages magazine after shooting the rapper as the "King of New York."

“This crown is a novelty item; I bought it at a place on Broadway called Gordon’s,” said the 57-year-old photographer who lives in Brooklyn. “Without Biggie, the crown would not be worth [six figures]. I only paid six bucks for it.”

“Some people have told me that it’s too low,” Claiborne stated when the item originally opened with an estimate of $200,000. “That shows you how strong the symbol really is. I always thought Biggie was a king.”

Other lots at the auction included a five-piece drum kit once used by Questlove of The Roots, and one of rapper Slick Rick’s diamond eyepatches, which sold for $30,240 and $25,200 respectively.

A pair of “Push It” Jackets worn by hip hop duo Salt-N-Pepa in a 2015 Super Bowl commercial went for just under $24,000. A collection of 22 love letters that Tupac Shakur wrote to his high school sweetheart were also up at the auction. A portion of proceeds from the sale will be donated to charities including New York’s Queens Public Library Foundation, which coordinates hip hop community programs.