Cigarette-burned Kurt Cobain 'Unplugged' cardigan heading to auction

A quarter century after grunge's enigmatic rhapsodist took his own life, Kurt Cobain's iconic cigarette-singed cardigan worn during Nirvana's 1993 "Unplugged" performance is up for sale.

The tattered, drab olive green button-up sweater with dark stains and a burn hole could go for at least $200,000 to $300,000, according to pre-bidding estimates from Julien's Auctions, which says rock and roll memorabilia has become a major investor's market.

The thrifted cardigan is the toast of this fall's "Icons & Idols: Rock 'N' Roll" auction organized by the house, which will also sell off the late Nirvana frontman's left-handed teal Fender Mustang guitar played during the "In Utero" tour.

"Kurt created the grunge look; he didn't wear show clothes," Julien told AFP at a New York exhibition preview of the auction, which will kick off October 25 and run through October 26, with bidding in person and online.

The music cable channel MTV began its "Unplugged" series in 1989, recording live performances of acts that generally played their normally electrified music on sparse acoustics.

Cobain's haunting "Unplugged" performance with Nirvana recorded less than six months before his suicide at age 27 is considered one of the most iconic shows of the series, and was released posthumously.

Already deep into an emotional, drug-addled downward spiral, the depressive but singular talent with ocean-blue eyes reportedly lamented to "Unplugged" programmer Amy Finnerty after the set that the audience seemed not to like the show.

"Kurt," she told him, "they think you are Jesus Christ."

Rock the new fine art

It's the second time the Manhattan-brand sweater has gone up for auction, having sold in November 2015 for $137,500 via Julien's.

A hole in Kurt Cobain's cardigan from Nirvana's 1993 MTV Unplugged performance is seen.

The house originally acquired the oversized cardigan from the nanny of Cobain's daughter with Courtney Love, Frances Bean, now 27 years old.

The house's CEO said interest in the rock and roll market has seen a particular uptick in recent years, as the genre ages and its memorabilia becomes artifact.

"I've always said that the rock and roll market is the new fine art market," Julien

"Millennials are starting to collect, and they're not collecting Monets and Picassos."

"Wall Street guys" are among the major buyers, Julien said, adding that "hedge funds even are starting to invest in rock and roll artifacts as a way to diversify their client's portfolios."

Agence France-Presse