Mystery of Cobain's fingerprint file sparked by New York auction

The fingerprint file of Kurt Cobain from the Aberdeen Police Departmennt has surfaced in an odd place – at an auction in New York and on the front page of today’s Aberdeen Daily World.

In an enterprising story, Daily World reporter Steven Friederich, tracked down the story of the fingerprints, which surfaced last week as part of rock memorabilia to be auctioned at the Hard Rock Café by Julien’s Auctions of New York City.

advertisement

Friederich asked Aberdeen Police Chief Bob Torgerson how the file card with the Nirvana front man’s fingerprints and trespassing charges slipped out from city jurisdiction and onto the auction block.

“It must have been taken years ago from our files,” Torgerson said. “We destroy files we don’t need. I’m pretty surprised and have no idea how they got it.”

The fingerprints were taken from a then-19-year-old Cobain, who the DailyWorld reports was then living in Aberdeen and arrested for trespassing, with other charges that included “failure to pay, malicious mischief and minor possession.”

He was caught, according to the paper, after he “wandered onto the roof” of an Aberdeen building that now houses Juicy Tan and Westside Communications.

 “These are highly collectible,” auction house owner Darren Julien told the “Today Show." “It’s got his fingerprints. It’s very personal. We sold a Jim Morrison fingerprint card for $12,000.”

Read the full Daily World story. Here’s a few more slices of the details:

-- The prints are expected to fetch between $6,000 to $8,000, but as yet no word is out on whether a bid that high was received. Other items in the auction include a hospital pillow case signed by Cobain and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl.

-- Here's a full MSNBC.com story about all the items that are part of the auction: Julien's Auctions Music Icons