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This is how valuable 20-year-old iPods are - if they have the right previous owner
Dozens of Karl Lagerfeld's iPods have been auctioned off. The fashion designer, who died in 2019, used over 500 of the Apple devices.
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld once said that anyone who wears jogging bottoms has lost control of their life. But what about people who have 500 iPods? That's the number of devices he has bought in his lifetime.
Now, the fashion grandmaster can no longer be interviewed. He died in 2019. The auction house Sotheby's has now auctioned off 45 devices from this impressive iPod collection, among other things.
The highest price was achieved by a set consisting of an iPod Classic under a microphone. Although Sotheby's expressly labelled it as "non-functional", someone must have felt their inner Karl: the bling-bling combo achieved a sale price of 2640 euros. The estimated price was only 50 to 80 euros. Did Lagerfeld once sing into the microphone and save the recording on his iPod? Would that even have been technically possible?
Source: Sotheby's
There were eleven other offers at slightly lower prices. Here, Sotheby's put four iPods of the same generation into one lot. At 720 euros each, the highest bidder was awarded the iPod Nano sets from 2009 and 2012. Even the latest set is no longer operational. And it is also doubtful whether a battery replacement will be offered when you visit the Apple Store.
Music collection on iPods
It is almost certain that the buyers of Lagerfeld's iPods did not purchase the items from the pre-Spotify era for use. It's more about owning a part of the eccentric's life. The fashion designer was a big fan and user of Apple's music players. While others may still have recorded cassettes or burnt CDs, Lagerfeld relied on iPods as a storage medium.
Most iPods have stickers on the back with handwritten notes such as "Tango" or "Italia". This meant that Mr Lagerfeld could be given the right music to match his current mood. Of course, Lagerfeld did not plug his iPods into the computer himself and put the music on them. At times, he is said to have had an employee who took care of this task and digitised his extensive music collection.
Source: Sotheby's
Music lover and Apple fan
Karl Lagerfeld was not just a music lover. As an avowed Apple fanboy, he said at an internet conference in 2011 that Steve Jobs, who had died shortly before, had changed the world in his view.
So it's not surprising that Lagerfeld was also enthusiastic about the iPad, which was still very new at the time. A clip has been preserved on YouTube in which Lagerfeld can be seen skilfully using the drawing pen.
Functional - and cheaper
If you haven't got your hands on any Karl Lagerfeld iPods, I have an alternative for you: cases for Airpods and iPhones in our shop. This makes the Karl Lagerfeld vibes much more affordable.
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Or you can choose here another of the more than 1600 products that we have from the "Karl Lagerfeld" brand in our range. However, jogging bottoms are not included - for reasons.
Header image: Shutterstock
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Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
