In the years following 2Pac’s death, many of his belongings have resurfaced at highly publicized auctions. Items like handwritten letters, jewelry, and a signed prison bible have been put up for sale with hefty, and we mean hefty, starting bids. For example, the BMW Pac was fatally shot in was listed at whopping $1.5 million.
On Friday, the same day the late rapper will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a Brooklyn-based auction house will offer another round of Pac memorabilia and artifacts. Black Heritage Auction will sell pieces like the nose stud from the All Eyez on Me cover ($7,500), a personal signed Koran ($30,000), a gold and diamond medallion ($38,000), as well as lyrics for “Wonda Why They Call U Bitch" ($15,000). There is a total of 39 items with an accumulated asking price of $480,000.
Shortly after the auction was announced, there were reports that the estate of Pac’s late mother, Afeni Shakur, had filled a lawsuit to stop the event. The news wasn’t necessarily shocking, as the estate has taken legal action against other auction houses that have attempted to sell the rapper’s items. But, according to Black Heritage Auction President Bill Panagopulos, his company is not being sued.
“We are not involved in any litigation, complaint, or any other action with the Shakur Trust or anyone else for that matter,” Panagopulos told Complex via email. “We have not heard from them, do not expect to, and we remain absolutely confident that our consignors rightfully own all of the Tupac Shakur property consigned to us.”
Panagopulos explained that each of the Pac items were obtained from about five different consigners. He also said he was optimistic about the sale, and believes the auction would not be affected by the reports of a lawsuit.
“The word is quickly getting out that our auction is totally unassociated with any legal action being taken by the estate, and we are confident the sale will be unaffected,” he said. “We warrant that we will pass good title to every buyer, as we have done tens of thousands of times in the past.”
