Lady Gaga Teacup Reaches $74, 225 in Japan
Lady Gaga might have been born with a Midas' touch.
The fans of the pop and fashion diva were engaged in a bidding war for a teacup and saucer used once by her. According to a Japanese auction site, by the time the auction ended, the tableware set has commanded a whopping six million yen, or $74,225.
The cup was last used by Lady Gaga during a press conference held in Tokyo, just three months after a massive tsunami devastated parts of Eastern Japan last March of 2011.
The pop diva told reporters that she would put up the cup and saucer for an auction. The cup was marked with her lipstick. The set also bore the diva's autograph and a Japanese message saying "We pray for Japan."
The week-long auction ended at 1400 GMT Sunday. The item reached more than 1,300 bids, with the winning bid reaching 6,011,000 yen.
The money raised will be used for a charity helping Japanese artists who want to take up education in the United States.
The teacup was one of the many items auctioned off by an event managed by Yahoo! Japan to help raise funds for those people affected by the tsunami. The teacup was the second most expensive item put up for auction. The top item was a Kawai crystal piano owned by Yoshiki of rock band Japan X, which commanded a price of 11,001,000, according to Yahoo! Japan.
Lady Gaga visited Japan twice after the tsunami. She is scheduled to be back in the country for her Asian tour, the Born This Way Ball tour.
The tsunami that swept through the Japanese coastline was the most devastating post-war calamity to hit the country. Aside from causing damage to live and properties, the calamity also sparked the world's worst nuclear accident after the Chernobyl Disaster in 1986.