Online auction site eBay has long been notorious for the bizarre items some users have attempted to hock, including recently, an entire London record shop. Now one UK user has opened the bidding on the kitchen table that aided Joy Division singer Ian Curtis in his suicide.
Curtis, the iconic frontman of groundbreaking Mancunian post-punk ensemble Joy Division, ended his life by hanging on the 18th May, 1980, in the kitchen of the house shared with wife Debbie at 77 Barton St, Macclesfield, having long suffered from depression and epileptic seizures.
Following Curtis’ death, Debbie sold the house and furniture to neighbour Dorothy Smith, who ran it as a bed and breakfast before passing the table on to her daughter. It remained with Smith’s daughter until being offered back to the Curtis family, with Curtis’ daughter Natalie selling it on eBay.
That auction’s winner is now the current owner of the table and is looking to sell it, due largely to the rise in interest in Curtis and Joy Division since the release of Anton Corbijn‘s biopic, Control. Writes the owner:
“Clearly this table is a unique item and I have put a reserve on the Table which I think reflects its true worth. If it doesn’t sell I will merely keep it.”
The current bid for the table is £8,100 or AUD $13,862, with the bidding set to close at 9:10pm UK time on Wednesday, 13th November. Included with the table is the confirmation of authenticity from Natalie Curtis, Debbie Curtis, Marco from Joy Division Central, and Dorothy Smith’s daughter, Vicky.
(Via Noise11)
