Dick Clark's shortage of space provided a chance this week for collectors to bid on a number of items from his hoard of pop music memorabilia.

Dozens of Clark's items representing a trip through rock 'n' roll history were sold in New York City by Guernsey's auction house.

Dick Clark's microphone from American Bandstand is displayed during an auction preview in October.
(Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

Included in the sale was the microphone Clark used when American Bandstand  first went on the air in 1956. It sold for $33,000 US.

The top of the American Bandstand  podium sold for $11,000, while the telephone he used to interview Elvis Presley when the singer was in the army fetched more than $4,000.

Also sold were lithographs that John Lennon gave Yoko Ono when they got married. Deemed too sexually explicit by Scotland Yard when they were briefly exhibited in London in 1970, they sold on Wednesday for $54,000.

Clark said the collection he has amassed fills about 8,500 square metres in a California warehouse.

The 76-year-old continues to recover from a stroke suffered in 2004.

The auction was held at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, with most of the proceeds going to the T.J. Martell Foundation, which raises money for research on cancer and AIDS.

Other items and their sale prices included:

• A cape belonging to Elvis Presley, $24,000.
• A Bob Dylan harmonica, $18,000.
• Frank Sinatra's first studio recording, $14,000.
• Madonna's bustier from the Open Your Heart video, $11,400.
• Red and yellow boots worn by Elton John, $9,600.

With files from the Associated Press