For those of you who have $1 million to spare and happen to be huge Kanye West fans, then we have some exciting news for you, The College Dropout official bear costume is for sale and if you have that mil you could own it. And for those of you don’t have it, but are Kanye fans nonetheless, well… just add it to your holiday gift list, maybe you’ll get lucky.
That’s right, the very same bear costume Ye famously used throughout 2004's The College Dropout era, both on tour and for promotional events has been put up for sale and priced at $1 million.
As reported by Complex from a recent interview with Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive — Eric Arginsky, the current owner of the the “Dropout Bear” and former associate of Kanye's explained it was given to him in an attempt to set up a line of replica plush bears. And that though the project was never realized, the bear remained in his possession.
At another point in the discussion Arginsky additionally noted that the costume in his possession is not the specific bear outfit seen on the College Dropout cover, explaining that the bear on the album cover is owned by the high school where the photoshoot was held and despite the offer, declined to sell the costume to the record label.
“I think they tried to buy or purchase that from the high school,” he said. “They were turned down… Obviously, it was going to be the basis for everything going forward [so] they went out and bought this suit which was then what they used on the DVD cover and for future promotions.”
Along with various pictures of the bear costume, Arginsky also shared a pic previewing two samples of the plush replica Dropout Bear toy that never was.
“I love business and opportunity so the best thing that could ever happen is someone from Ye’s camp sees this video and reaches out to you to bring this opportunity back and then you and I are producing bears tomorrow,” Arginsky said.
“That’s what I’m really hoping for. I know that the percentages are very slim on that one. But yeah, I would say at this point I’m really open to anything.”
As for that million dollar price tag, Arginsky is open, admitting there’s a chance he “would say yes” to another offer, but is also open if a museum or charity approaches.
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