Tiffany lamp coveted by Steve Jobs sells for $4.4M
semafor.com
semafor.com
Questions that come to mind:
Was Steve Jobs rich in 1982?
In 1982, was the cost of a "real" Tiffany lamp within the reach of someone at Jobs's 1982 wealth/income level?
What are the chances that the item Jobs owned was a knockoff or a mass-produced item?
I imagine that Steve Jobs was the kind of person who would buy a $5000 lamp even if he was only making $20,000 a year.
> In 1978, at age 23, Jobs was worth over $1 million (equivalent to $4.82
> million in 2024). By age 25, his net worth grew to an estimated $250 million
> (equivalent to $865 million in 2024). He was also one of the youngest "people
> ever to make the Forbes list of the nation's richest people—and one of only a
> handful to have done it themselves, without inherited wealth".[97] In 1982,
> Jobs bought an apartment on the top two floors of The San Remo, a Manhattan
> building with a politically progressive reputation. Although he never lived
> there,[98] he spent years renovating it thanks to I. M. Pei.So not the "someone paid $4million for an (specific) item with a celebrity connection" that I thought it was.
Obviously celebrity endorsements is nothing new, but "coveting" seems new to me. Imagine if it's Trump, Musk or your favorite dickhead celebrity coveting after the object, would you say "eww" or would you pay more to say "I own something that dickhead covets."?
People with 4MM lamp money have grand scope for their spitefulness :)
I'm not particularly fond of Jobs but I do think it's always interesting to see what folks who have few material possessions choose to keep around, especially those who could afford anything they might want.