Urban World

Celebrities Donate Memorabilia for Online Haiti Auction

An online auction of pop memorabilia from some of Britain's biggest acts has raised around £50,000 so far for survivors of the Haiti earthquake, organizers Oxfam said on this week.

Item generously donated by stars of the pop world included a jacket worn by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin during the "Viva la Vida" tour, which raised £9,600 pounds, and three pairs of VIP tickets to the Glastonbury festival which raised around £7,000 each.

The Fender Stratocaster guitar played by Alex Turner in the Arctic Monkeys' I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor video fetched £4,600.

The auction which is being hosted by popular auction site eBay is set to rise significantly, with a print image from Brit artist Damien Hirst has already got potential buyers in a fierce bidding war with figures already topping the £12,000 mark. A Rolf Harris oil painting is currently bidding at around the £8,000 mark.

Others stars, including Kylie Minogue, who heard about the online auction, were in such a frenzy to get their items on the site that the sale had to be extended to February 7 – the online gavel was originally expected to slam on February 2nd. The auction is one of several initiatives by celebrities to raise funds for Haiti.

Last month, MTV hosted a telethon featuring George Clooney, Beyonce, U2's Bono amongst other A-listers, which raised more than $61 million, and the Hope For Haiti Now charity album debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard pop chart last week.