Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Fans of Jacques Brel battled to buy the singer's possessions, including guitars, photos and manuscripts, at a Sotheby's auction last night in Paris.

Admirers of the Belgian-born star of French chanson spent a combined 1.03 million euros ($1.4 million), beating a presale estimate of as much as 470,000 euros. Only one lot was unsold at the sale, which coincided with the 30th anniversary of Brel's death and faced opposition from some of his family.

Other recent sales at Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, have missed estimates because of the global financial meltdown. The Brel memorabilia sold well because the buyers consisted of fans, national institutions and specialist collectors, said Alain Renner, vice-president of Sotheby's France, in an interview after the sale.

`` It wasn't just a typical auction,'' said Renner, 63, who also was the auctioneer. ``It was a sale very much based on emotions, with people buying objects they had some form of attachment to.''

Highlights of the collection were a squared-paper notebook Brel used for a draft of ``Amsterdam,'' one of his most well-known songs, which fetched 108,750 euros; the manuscript of his 1967 musical ``L'Homme de la Mancha,'' which went for 23,550 euros and his pilot's license, which raised 34,350 euros.

``It's breaking my heart to see these items sold,'' said Jean-Brice Wallon, 45, who said he is a distant cousin of Brel. ``They represent the memory, the history of my family. I am sad I couldn't buy anything. The prices went up too much.''

Brel's Lover

The sale is ``so odious,'' French newspaper Le Figaro cited Brel's daughter France as saying in an interview published on Oct. 7. Most of the items, from a private collection being sold by an anonymous seller, were recovered in the home at Roquebrune-Cap- Martin, on the French Riviera, that Brel shared with Sylvie Rivet, his lover for 10 years, according to Le Figaro.

``I really am not interested in the controversy,'' that surrounded the sale, said Anne Heilbronn, who heads Sotheby's books and manuscripts department in Paris. ``All we wanted was to pay homage to Brel in the best way possible. We succeeded.''

The Cite de la Musique, a cultural center in Paris, bought one of the three Brel guitars on sale. The Trois Baudets, a Parisian theater, acquired a poster for a show that Brel held there in 1957. The French National Library bought other items.

Other knickknacks on sale included personal belongings such as a Longchamp pipe, a Hermes wallet, a Montblanc pen and pictures showing a young Brel at the height of his career or posing with celebrities such as the singer Dalida.

The objects had been on display since Oct. 4, drawing 2,800 visitors, Sotheby's, which has its main salerooms in New York, said.

Singing `Giant'

``I am very moved,'' said Jacques De Vos, 66, a former singer who said he knew Brel and hung around him in the 1960s. He bought the Montblanc pen for 10,000 euros as well as two of the guitars on sale. ``Brel was a giant. He sang about love, pain, tenderness. I spent so many evenings listening to him.''

Brel, born in 1929 in Brussels, wrote his first songs in 1952. Fame arrived only a few years later, following his move to Paris and performances at the Olympia theater. ``Ne me Quitte pas,'' a love song later interpreted by Nina Simone among others, was his first success, in 1959. Brel, who also became an actor, gave hundreds of concerts before retiring from the stage in 1967.

He spent the last years of his life in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, before returning to Paris to record a last album. He died on Oct. 9, 1978, of lung cancer.

Elise Fabbri, 28, said she attended the auction because her parents have always been ``big fans'' of Brel.

``I've grown up with this music,'' she said. ``I have been listening to his songs ever since I was a child.''

To contact the writer on the story: Albertina Torsoli in Paris at atorsoli@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 8, 2008 20:19 EDT