Ian Curtis passport photo taken in Macclesfield sold for £7,500
By Alex Greensmith
26th Apr 2022 | Local News
A passport photo of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis has gone under the hammer for £7,500.
The Macclesfield resident, who lived on Barton Street and worked in our town as a civil servant, is best known for being the singer-songwriter for the post-punk band Joy Division.
Merseyside auction house Omega Auctions sold the portrait to an unknown buyer this morning.
The Photo Me booth passport photo was taken in Woolworths in Macclesfield, where Iceland is now.
The poignant photo was shot just three days before Ian Curtis ended his own life in his Macclesfield home.
It is believed to be the last photo of the ex-King's School pupil.
The image, shot in the morning of May 15 1980, shows Curtis with parted lips and a piercing stare.
Curtis self-took the image as the band were set to fly for Joy Division's first North America tour.
The father-of-one would never use image on a passport however, as he lost his battle with epilepsy and depression the day before he was due to fly.
The Macclesfield musician was aged just 23.
"There was a huge amount of interest in this lot," said Omega Auctions Manager said Dan Hampson.
"We weren't surprised it sold for more than the £5000 estimate.
"This item is a real piece of history, and the interest generated before the sale started gave us an indication we might exceed the estimate.
"This is the highest priced item we've ever sold for a photo of this size.
"This was only part of a super sale with many other collectable items relating to Joy Division and New Order.
"We'd advise anyone who has anything similar up in their loft to get in touch with us for an appraisal!"
For more information, you can head to the website of music memorabilia auction house Omega Auctions.
Upon exiting the booth, Curtis gave the photo to Joy Division road manager Terry Mason for purposes of providing a copy to US immigration, at Grosvenor Square in London.
Speaking to Omega Auctions, Mason said: "The band, Rob [Gretton] and the crew all needed to provide two passport photos, signed on the reverse complete with any middle initials.
"I was due to travel to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square the next day and I already had everyone else, Ian's were the last to be collected. I drove over with Barney and Rob Gretton.
"Ian was in fine form and overly generous, we really thought that he had got his head around his domestic situation, and was making plans for the future.
"He gave Barney some albums, his skinny Levis and his winkle picker boots, he gave me his Ideal for Living cover – for some reason I had missed out on a cover, despite having been there folding them, Ian was offering me his #2 Sordide Sentimental, but Rob stopped him.
"And then the major reason for the journey, Ian handed me the two duly signed passport photos for the US Embassy, and gave me the remaining copy, saying 'you keep this you never know when you might need it', with Rob joking, 'it's your tip for going to the embassy'.
"[But] three photos, shouldn't there be a fourth? There was, but obviously it was the first flash that always caught you off guard and Ian didn't want anyone see that one, and Ian had already binned it, I was given three.
"The next day I caught the early train down to London, queued at the Embassy and waited for the passports to be stamped, before the Embassy closed its gates. I collected the passports, rang Rob to tell him we had Visas (around that time there had been a spate of UK bands missing the start of their North American tours due to Visa delays) and then got the train back to Manchester.
"On Monday morning we were to fly out to America…
"In the 41 years since the photo, no one has made any claim to a later photo of Ian and so with a 99.999% probability this is the last photo of Ian."
See Also: Watch an epic timelapse of the Ian Curtis mural in Macclesfield
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