Update 09/17/2020 10:50am:

Sotheby’s held its very first hip-hop memorabilia auction on Tuesday (September 15), where they auctioned off rare items from rappers, including Slick Rick's eye patch and 2Pac's high school love letters. Among the items was the crown that Biggie wore in his final photoshoot before he was fatally shot in 1997.

The plastic crown was bought for $6 by Brooklyn-based photographer Barron Claiborne for a "King of New York" spread in Rap Pages magazine. Claiborne provided the crown to Sotheby's, who auctioned it off for a whopping $594,750 alongside a pair of prints from the session, plus a photo contact sheet. 

Claiborne commented on the shoot, stating, "I’m not sure that I even got paid for it. I was mostly shooting celebrities and reportage. I did this because I liked taking pictures of Biggie. The time before, I photographed him in a white suit — instead of the tracksuit that most rappers were wearing back in 1997." 

He then revealed that he almost didn't get the shot of Biggie in the crown, revealing that "[Diddy] said it would make Biggie look like Burger King." Claiborne added, "But Biggie didn’t listen. He wore it anyway. And nobody’s ever told me that they look at the photo and think the crown is plastic. His power cancels out the fact that it is a novelty crown." 

Source: NY Post 

Original 08/25/2020 1:07pm:

Reports surfaced, noting that iconic items from Tupac and Biggie would be going up for auction at Sotheby’s in the first-ever dedicated Hip Hop auction at an international auction house.

The Notorious B.I.G.’s crown that he wore in iconic photos that were taken only three days before his death in Los Angeles is up for auction. Along with that, 22 autographed love letters that were written by Tupac Shakur from the age of 15 to 17 to a high school sweetheart are up for auction.

The auction is set to take place on September 15, 2020 at Sotheby’s in New York, and the items can be viewed by reservation. For the headlining lots—Biggie’s crown and Tupac’s letters, they are set to get $200,000 to $300,000 and $60,000 to $80,000. 

source: USA Today