France sees boom in bizarre Johnny Hallyday memorabilia (including photo of rocker in his coffin)
The Local France - [email protected]
Published: 19 Dec, 2017 CET.
Updated: Tue 19 Dec 2017 15:37 CET
A surge in "black market" Johnny Hallyday memorabilia has appeared since the French rocker's memorial in Paris just over a week ago...including cigarette butts, tissues and a photograph of his dead body in the coffin.
The passion Hallyday inspired among his millions of fans was never in question but few would have guessed how macabre the market for his memorabilia would become after his death.
According to a report in French weekly Le Journal de Dimanche a photographer contacted the manager of a store specializing in Hallyday memorabilia offering to sell him the image of the star dead in his coffin.
"The man phoned and offered me a photo of Johnny in his casket. I can not imagine that it was taken by a family member, he must be a person who was present during the embalming of the body," said the store manager who was not named.
But that isn't the only strange item on the Hallyday "black market".
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Photo: AFP
The butt from a cigarette, allegedly smoked by Hallyday at a concert in Carcassonne went on sale on Saturday for €90 on the country's most popular classified ads website Le Bon Coin, along with a video providing "evidence" that it had been smoked by the star who died from lung cancer.
And there were also tissues apparently used by the singer up for sale with an asking price of €650.
And for €10,000 euros, fans could buy imprints of Johnny's ears made backstage at one of his concerts, according to the vendor named Lolo, a hearing care professional from the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
"Under the influence of emotion, everything is possible, even the despicable," Didier Delages who sells second hand records and collectible items told the JDD.
Among the thousands of other items that have emerged in the aftermath of the rocker's memorial in the French capital on December 9th are copies of the memorial programme for €200, a gig ticket from 2015 for €50 and a Hallyday-themed mug for €40.
But fans are encouraged to be cautious in case they are sold fake goods or ripped off during the surge in interest in these kinds of collectible items.
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The passion Hallyday inspired among his millions of fans was never in question but few would have guessed how macabre the market for his memorabilia would become after his death.
According to a report in French weekly Le Journal de Dimanche a photographer contacted the manager of a store specializing in Hallyday memorabilia offering to sell him the image of the star dead in his coffin.
"The man phoned and offered me a photo of Johnny in his casket. I can not imagine that it was taken by a family member, he must be a person who was present during the embalming of the body," said the store manager who was not named.
But that isn't the only strange item on the Hallyday "black market".
READ ALSO:
Photo: AFP
The butt from a cigarette, allegedly smoked by Hallyday at a concert in Carcassonne went on sale on Saturday for €90 on the country's most popular classified ads website Le Bon Coin, along with a video providing "evidence" that it had been smoked by the star who died from lung cancer.
And there were also tissues apparently used by the singer up for sale with an asking price of €650.
And for €10,000 euros, fans could buy imprints of Johnny's ears made backstage at one of his concerts, according to the vendor named Lolo, a hearing care professional from the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
"Under the influence of emotion, everything is possible, even the despicable," Didier Delages who sells second hand records and collectible items told the JDD.
Among the thousands of other items that have emerged in the aftermath of the rocker's memorial in the French capital on December 9th are copies of the memorial programme for €200, a gig ticket from 2015 for €50 and a Hallyday-themed mug for €40.
But fans are encouraged to be cautious in case they are sold fake goods or ripped off during the surge in interest in these kinds of collectible items.
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