Elton John‘s been a superstar for more than 50 years, and during that time, he’s sported endless pairs of glasses, some of which were incredibly elaborate. He recently had to go through them to get ideas for a new signature line of eyewear he’s created for a British company called SpecSavers — which means he finally got a full count on just how many he has.
Elton’s husband and manager, David Furnish, tells Hello! magazine, “We have catalogued and in storage about 15,000 pairs of eyewear.” He keeps a large part of that collection in his home in Windsor, England, and David says they didn’t realize just how many pairs they had until, “We emptied all the drawers and all of the cabinets and cupboards in the house.”
“They completely filled the dining room table, which seats 14 people,” he adds. “And that was when we started to play around and group them and realized they’re almost like chapters of his story.”
“Eyewear has given him a wonderful opportunity to be so individual, so expressive, and to decide what face he wants to put on the world every time he goes out the door,” David explains. “It’s an integral part of him. He doesn’t feel complete until he’s wearing the right frame.”
Elton used to own far more than 15,000 pairs of glasses, but over the years, he’s auctioned them off in periodic purges of his many possessions. Last year, just one pair of his glasses sold for nearly $23,000 at auction.
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