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Eyebrows were raised back in 2004 when Eric Clapton sold his beloved Fender Stratocaster Blackie for the princely sum of $959,500. Later today, more of

Mr Clapton's collection will be sold off at an auction in New York, including a faithful replica of Blackie, complete with every single nick and scratch, the wear pattern from Clapton’s belt buckle and even the burn marks from his cigarettes. The copy is estimated to fetch at least 20 grand...but why?

Fortunately, social scientists at Yale University have been hard at work on the answers. After conducting experiments and interviewing guitar players and collectors, the most important factor in such high auction prices seems to be the degree of “celebrity contagion.” ...items became more valuable to buyers the more they had been used or worn by the celebs in question.

This helps explain why the original Blackie guitar sold for nearly $1 million — but why the interest in the replica?

According to one of the research leaders Dr George Newman, the replica’s appeal is down to something called the law of similarity or imitative magic: that things which resemble each other have similar powers. “Cultural practices such as burning voodoo dolls to harm one’s enemies are consistent with a belief in the law of similarity,” Dr. Newman said.

Update: the whole shebang raised more than 2.15 million dollars for Clapton's Crossroads drug and alcohol treatment centre - and as for the replica Blackie?...a  cool 30,500 dollars.

Source: NY Times

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