Ozzy’s Family Snaps Up Black Sabbath Memorabilia Days Before it Hit the Auction Block

Remember last month, when we posted about a bunch of pretty cool Black Sabbath memorabilia that was going up for auction? The collection included posters for a show by proto-Sabbath band Earth, hand-written lyrics that would later become those of the Sabbath track “Solitude,” and postcards from Ozzy to his family. It was a sweet collection, the kind of thing a purist would like to get their hands on.

Except now they won’t, as The Star reports that the Osbourne family has bought from auctioneer Stephen Flintoft.

Flintoft made the following statement:

“The items have been sold by private treaty, for an undisclosed sum, to the Osbourne family, ensuring that this important piece of hard rock musical history remains intact.”

To which I say: word.

Look, it would be cool if some diehard Sabbath fan got to hold these killer relics in his or her hand, and there’s nothing wrong with being a diehard collector. But these things are part of Ozzy’s legacy, which I’m sure his family will want to preserve. They should hold onto them.

Meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder how much the “undisclosed sum” was compared to how much Ozzy spent on those postcards. You think he knew, while scribbling them on some bar that Earth were playing, that he’d one day have to drop serious bank to get them back?