It has been eight years since the world reluctantly said goodbye to Ronnie James Dio after he lost his valiant battle with cancer in 2010. I can tell you this, I do not know a single person that does not dig Dio.
Dio dislikers are thankfully a rare breed, and saying you don't like Dio is kind of like claiming to hate country music because Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams all suck, right? I'm sure you get my point.
Given Dio's enduring legacy, it is no surprise lots of headbangers are freaking out over the massive 665 item auction containing items owned by RJD. Hosted by Julien's, you can currently bid on anything such as a vast selection of Dio's stagewear (lots of leather and fringe!), jewelry (including several "devil horn hand sign" charms), as well as various stage props used during his career.
As I said, the auction is live right now leading up to its official start on September 14th at 10 am ET. I can't lie–if I was remotely close to Dio's size I would be bidding on something he once wore–especially his personalized Black Sabbath bathrobe which is, of course, BLACK.
If you're curious, as of this writing, the current bid for said bathrobe is a cool $600 bucks. I've posted some of the more covetable items from the auction below, you can see all 14 pages of the auction booklet here.
An airbrushed jacket featuring the album art from his 1983 album Holy Diver owned and worn by Ronnie James Dio.
Leather front-lace pants owned and worn on stage by RJD.
Leather lace-up shirt worn on stage by Ronnie James Dio.
Leather tunic worn on stage by RJD.
A signature look worn by Dio on stage.
RJD's satin Heaven and Hell Tour jacket, 1980.
Shades of purple were regular color-theme in RJD's wardrobe.
Another wardrobe staple of Dio's.
A few of Dio's devil horn hands.
An assortment of crosses worn by RJD.
More totally Dio jewelry.
A few rad rings worn by RJD.
A leather bracelet with a black widow spider encased in glass.
RJD's coat of arms.
RJD's 19th-century printing of Volume II of The Devotional Family Bible by Rev. Alexander Fletcher (London: George Virtue) bound in full brown calf with gilt-stamped titling to the spine.
A set list handwritten by Dio featuring selections from the first two Dio albums in addition to Black Sabbath and Rainbow songs.
RJD guitar case.
Dio loudspeaker road case.
SWORDS!
A giant robotic spider used on stage during the Dream Evil Tour in 1988.
