By Daniel Taub
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ozzy Osbourne, heavy metal's Prince of Darkness, long ago sold his soul for rock 'n' roll. This weekend he sold furniture, art and memorabilia from his 30-year music career for $800,000, double the expected amount.
The items auctioned during a two-day sale in Beverly Hills, California, included a black satin coat with bat-wing cape, which fetched $3,300; a hand-painted, floral-design teacup that Osbourne used for coffee during filming of MTV's ``The Osbournes,'' which went for $1,625; and a Victorian-style, carved-walnut pool table custom-made for Osbourne, which sold for $11,250. The sale ended yesterday.
More than 500 lots were offered during the sale, run by Julien's Auctions, based in West Hollywood, California. The items were from the Beverly Hills home featured on the MTV show, Ozzy and wife Sharon's Malibu, California, beach house, and their mansion in Buckinghamshire, England.
The auction was expected to bring in about $400,000. Sharon Osbourne said proceeds from the auction, after deducting ``costs to do all of this,'' will be donated to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where Sharon, 55, was treated for cancer five years ago.
``It did very well,'' Darren Julien, president of Julien's Auctions, said of the sale. ``It raised some good money for a very worthy cause.''
Ozzy Osbourne, 58, gained fame as the frontman of the 1970s proto-metal band Black Sabbath. As a solo artist in the 1980s, he recorded such hits as ``Crazy Train'' and ``Mr. Crowley.''
Occult, MTV Show
Osbourne achieved notoriety for writing lyrics that dealt with the occult. During a tour supporting his 1981 album ``Diary of a Madman,'' a concertgoer threw a live bat on stage; the singer, thinking it was a toy, bit into its neck. Osbourne was rushed to a hospital to be checked for rabies.
Osbourne struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for much of his career. By the time ``The Osbournes,'' a reality show focused on his home life, made its debut in 2002, viewers found Osbourne had mellowed into a loving if befuddled father and husband. The show ran for four seasons and was among MTV's most- watched programs.
Many of the items auctioned were featured on the show. Perhaps the most recognizable was a bronze plaque of a devil's head that hung on the Osbournes' front door. The plaque, expected to sell for $800 to $1,200, fetched $8,750. (All prices include a 20 percent buyer's premium that goes to Julien's.)
Some of the priciest items didn't sell, Julien said. They included a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur, expected to fetch $160,000 to $180,000; a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V sedan ($30,000 to $40,000); and a 1950 Oldsmobile Futuramic 88 Club Coupe once owned by romance author Danielle Steel ($40,000 to $50,000).
Prior to the sale, Sharon Osbourne said it wouldn't be hard to part with the automobiles.
``We're not great car people,'' she said. ``They really don't do a lot for us.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Taub in Los Angeles at dtaub@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 2, 2007 13:18 EST
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