Pharrell's New Party Block

The American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer is selling a treasure trove of his belongings to launch his new online auction house.

- Paige Reddinger

TWO MONTHS AGO, Pharrell Williams sold a massive stockpile of personal belongings, including the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak skeletonised perpetual calendar he wore in his 2004 Frontin’ video and a Lorraine Schwartz 18-carat yellow-gold pinkie ring set with a 23.7-carat sapphire. And that was just the start. The auction, dubbed Son of a Pharaoh, officially launched the latest venture from the multi-hyphenate superstar: Joopiter, a new auction site aimed at a crowd that appreciates a diamond-encrusted NERD belt buckle but expects the type of white-glove service found at old-guard establishments such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

At first, the site will exclusively sell items from high-profile curators (mostly Pharrell’s friends), but there’s more to come from The Neptunes coproducer. “It’s insane the stuff that I moved” during the Son of a Pharaoh auction, he says, but he still has “probably three or four times that in terms of what I’m going to let go. So it’s going to get crazy.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

When did you begin to consider yourself a collector?