Report: BON SCOTT Memorabilia Under The Hammer

Patrick Donovan of Australia's The Age has issued the following report:

Irene Thornton will never forget the first time she spoke to her future husband, AC/DC wild man singer Bon Scott.

It was at Adelaide's Largs Pier Hotel in 1971, and Scott had just come off stage with his band at the time, Fraternity. "He had really tight jeans on so I said: 'What a well-packed lunch.' And he said: 'Yes, two hard-boiled eggs and a sausage.' And we took off from there."

Within the year, the two would be married on a day that Ms Thornton recalls as the happiest of her life.

It's lucky that these treasured recollections are committed to memory, because soon the tangible mementoes of their romance — the wedding certificate and photos, love letters and cards — will be owned by someone else. After being the guardian of this treasure trove of Australian rock memorabilia for so many years, Ms Thornton has decided to sell. They will go under the hammer at the autumn Joel's catalogue auction in South Yarra on April 12. And what price for what some hard-core fans would consider to be the holy grail of Australian rock? Auctioneers, who have already received strong interest from overseas bidders, are expecting the four allotments to sell for more than $50,000.

Ms Thornton's decision has caused controversy among fans who, in internet chat rooms, have accused her of being tacky and exploitative. On the Roadrunner Records Blabbermouth chat room, one said: "Nothing is sacred any more … eBay started all this trash."

Ms Thornton, speaking to the media for the first time about why she decided to sell the late rock star's personal items, responds by saying: "You don't know. It's not for any wrong reasons, I'm just doing it. I have been going to do it for a long time."

Ms Thornton, 55, who lives in Oakleigh, adds: "I didn't know where to take them. Last year, kind of spur-of-the-moment, I made photocopies of them and decided to do it. I would look at them from time to time and they made me laugh. But now I feel that I can part with them. I was always worried about them whenever I moved: 'Where's that letter? Where's the record?', but also I thought, 'I am on my own now, I'm not getting any younger, what's going to happen to them if something happens to me?' "

The cache is rock'n'roll gold — memorabilia that seldom comes out of private family hands. The letters and cards, written by Scott between 1973 and 1980 while on tour, are eloquently handwritten with plenty of innuendo and cheekiness that became a trademark of his songs.

One of the card turned up a few weeks after he died in 1980 from alcohol poisoning.

They reveal a loyalty to Ms Thornton even after their separation, as well as his love for family, poetry, cartoons and ZZ TOP. He was not so kind about glam rock rivals Skyhooks, Melbourne and playing in small pubs. His general demeanour is humorous, ambitious and defiant, but later letters suggest he had became increasingly lonely and self-abusing while on the road.

Scott and Ms Thornton's relationship was put under a lot of pressure as they moved to London to live in a shared house with members of Fraternity. They divorced in 1978, but remained close through the correspondence. Scott says in one letter: "When I pull out my photo album I like saying: 'This is my wife'." Thornton believes their marriage could have lasted under more conducive conditions. She says when she attended a recent AC/DC concert, guitarist Angus Young told her that she was the only one Bon ever trusted. "That meant a lot to me," she says.

Until now, Clinton Walker's Scott biography "Highway to Hell", which quoted from the letters, provided the most revealing insight into his personal life. But the original letters, combined with personal photos, wedding and divorce papers and a shaving mirror in a black vinyl zip case bearing his name, are the closest thing to a Scott autobiography.

Asked what Scott would think of his private letters being made public, Thornton says: "I think he would think it was funny. Things weren't as PC back then."

Read the rest of the article at www.theage.com.au.