This auction doesn’t miss a beat.
Handwritten lyrics from Bob Dylan, a playful self-portrait by Kurt Cobain, a Prince guitar and a “break-up” letter from Britney Spears to her high school boyfriend are among 1,300 lots of personal property, musical instruments and memorabilia going under the hammer next month in Beverly Hills.
The items are all part of the annual “Music Icons” extravaganza hosted by Julien’s Auctions.
Former Britney beau Donald “Reg” Jones, 43, candidly told the Post he still carries a torch for the “One More Time” superstar he dated back in high school. “She was the love of my life,” he said, adding, “I don’t go around wishing we were back together. … I wish her the best in all that she does.”
Jones, a divorced lumber salesman who remains in their hometown of McComb, MS., said he hasn’t spoken to Spears “in freakin’ 15 to 20 years.” They dated from 1996-1998, after Spears left “The Mickey Mouse Club.”
The last conversation he recalls took place when he stopped by her house to pick up a jacket Spears gave him, only to find Britney chatting on the phone with fellow former Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake. “I called her a bitch and she called me an a**h*le,” he said, laughing.
“I would like to talk to her, whether it’s this year or 20 years from now, in order to close that chapter of our lives,” Jones said. “It felt like we were so in love, so in love, and it was an abrupt ending. Not because of me, not because of her, but because of the industry.”
Nevertheless, he sees nothing wrong with making a few bucks off two letters Spears wrote him while she was living in New York City — on the road to worldwide fame — and he was back home in Mississippi. “I wont say it’s free money, but it’s extra money,” he said.
The letters have a presale estimate of $4,000 to $6,000 each.
The two-page break-up missive — handwritten by Spears on lined notebook paper — begins, “Look, I’m really sorry that it had to be this way, but I think we both knew this was coming.
“I’ve been feeling this way for a long time now, but I was just scared of what would happen if I let you know,” it continues. “I know it’s really hard to have a girlfriend who travels, but it is even harder to have a boyfriend who doesn’t have trust in his girlfriend! You literally pushed me away. I couldn’t take it anymore! I’m not in love w/ you anymore, but will always care about you.”
Britney notes, “I’ve had a great two years,” and adds, “Who knows, two years from now or even 10, we might get back together if it’s meant to be.”
It wasn’t meant to be. Following the split, Spears dated fellow future pop star Timberlake.
A second letter up for auction — written in 1998 — isn’t as diplomatic.
“What was wrong with you at lunch? You were mean,” an upset Spears writes. “I don’t trust you, especially after what you said last night. My mom was almost right, you are like a caring friend, but f**ks me whenever you like.” Spears concludes the letter with: “You a**hole! [heart] Britney.”
Spears sent the letter from her Upper East Side apartment to Jones’ post office box in McComb. The item comes with the original envelope postmarked Aug. 3, 1998.
“Not many people can say Britney Spears broke up with them and have the letter to prove it,” Julien’s Auctions CEO Darren Julien, told The Post. “This might be the only break-up letter she ever wrote as the others would have been done by text, email or a phone call making this even more rare/valuable.”
An email to Spears’ publicist was not immediately returned.
Also on the block are Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics to his 1969 track “Lay Lady Lay,” which carry the auction’s priciest presale estimate of $500,000 to $600,000, Julien said.
A 1994 blue cloud electric guitar commissioned by Prince could go for $80,000.
A tangerine-orange jumpsuit worn onstage by Elton John with a $20,000 estimate and an Alex Van Halen drum kit, expected to fetch $300,000, are also among the hot lots.
The auction also features a large selection of memorabilia from Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and the Rolling Stones, paintings by Frank Sinatra, some of The Beatles’ Gold Records and more. The “Icon” items will be on display from June 7-11 prior to the auction, held online and live at Julien’s Beverly Hills galleries, from June 11-13.
