World's Rarest Vintage LED ZEPPELIN T-Shirt Sells For $10,000

May 11, 2011

One of the rarest rock t-shirts in the world has sold for $10,000 the largest sum ever paid for a vintage t-shirt. The record-setting sale of a 1979 LED ZEPPELIN t-shirt on eBay has sent ripples through the competitive vintage clothing community. The item was sold by Kyle Ermatinger of Stormcrow Vintage, one of the top online destinations for sought-after authentic vintage tees. The recent completion of the transaction places the purchase as the world's rarest and most expensive vintage t-shirt.

"When I got the sale notification, my jaw hit the floor," Ermatinger said. "Given this shirt may be one of the only ones in existence, the price tag is completely justifiable. It's a rock relic, beyond rare. Admittedly, I still frequently pinch myself."

As the most scarce LED ZEPPELIN t-shirt ever produced, the article was printed in limited quantity as a unique way to replace conventional backstage passes for one of the band's historic 1979 Knebworth House concerts. Ermatinger acquired the item for $123 from the family who ran the shop that screen-printed the original shirts. "At the time, I thought I may have overpaid, until I got back home, looked it up online and noticed it was ranked #1 as the rarest ZEPPELIN t-shirt."

"Other t-shirts have been priced higher on eBay, but never sold," said James Applegath, eBay award-winning t-shirt vendor at Defunkd.com. "We've documented eBay's highest-selling t-shirts on our blog for years and nothing has come close."

Applegath, a veteran in the vintage business, migrated away from eBay to transform his Defunkd brand into a comprehensive vintage t-shirt resource and active online community. He says the buzz on his site about this story isn't a total surprise. "People are shocked at the value of some vintage t-shirts, but these items have become as collectible as baseball cards and comics."

The only details known about the buyer are that he's located in Australia and he bought a second LED ZEPPELIN t-shirt in the same week as the backstage pass gem. Although he declined to comment about the purchases, one thing is for certain: he's got a whole lotta love for LED ZEPPELIN.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).