BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — A custom guitar played by Prince at the height
of his stardom in the 1980s and 1990s has sold for a staggering $563,500 at
auction.

The “Blue Angel” Cloud 2 electric guitar skyrocketed beyond the estimate of $100,000 to $200,000 it was expected to fetch at the Music Icons sale run by
Julien’s Auctions on Friday and Saturday in Beverly Hills.

Prince played the blindingly blue guitar with the artist’s “love” symbol on its
neck beginning on the 1984 Purple Rain Tour, on the classic albums
“Lovesexy” and “Sign O’ The Times.” He used it into the early 1990s.

Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)

Father’s Day has been celebrated on March 19 as Saint Joseph’s Day
since the Middle Ages. In America, Father’s Day was founded by
Sonora Smart Dodd (below) and celebrated on the third Sunday of
June for the first time in 1910. It is held on various days in many parts
of the world all throughout the year, often in the months of March, May
and June.

Sonora Smart Dodd (February 18, 1882 – March 22, 1978)

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Singer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress,
and television personality.Paula Julie Abdul is 58
years young today.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day,
is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of
slavery in the United States.

Sir James Paul McCartney is 78 years old today!

On June 17, 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from
the people of France to the people of America, arrives in New York Harbor
after being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces
packed in more than 200 cases. The copper and iron statue, which was reassembled and dedicated the following year in a ceremony presided over
by U.S. President Grover Cleveland, became known around the world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy.

Intended to commemorate the American Revolution and a century of
friendship between the U.S. and France, the statue was designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (who modeled it after his own mother),
with assistance from engineer Gustave Eiffel, who later developed the iconic
tower in Paris bearing his name. The statue was initially scheduled to be
finished by 1876, the 100th anniversary of America’s Declaration of
Independence; however, fundraising efforts, which included auctions, a
lottery and boxing matches, took longer than anticipated, both in Europe
and the U.S., where the statue’s pedestal was to be financed and constructed.

The statue alone cost the French an estimated $250,000 (more than $5.5 million
in today’s money).