Pink Floyd guitar breaks record, sells for $14.6 million
A guitar wielded by David Gilmour throughout six Pink Floyd albums has been auctioned off for a staggering $14.6 million, setting a new record as the most expensive guitar ever sold, Christie’s auction house announced. The 1969 Fender Stratocaster, fondly known as the ‘Black Strat’, was Gilmour’s trusted instrument across Pink Floyd’s discography from 1970 to 1983, adorning iconic albums like The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. This cherished guitar found a new home with an undisclosed buyer after a brisk 21-minute bidding war at a rock memorabilia auction in New York held on Thursday.
At the same auction, a piano belonging to John Lennon of The Beatles changed hands for $3.2 million, believed to be the highest sum ever paid for a piece of Beatles memorabilia. Despite Christie’s initially estimating that the guitar would fetch between $2 million and $4 million, it went on to shatter expectations with its final selling price.
The collection, including Gilmour’s guitar, hailed from the estate of the late American tycoon Jim Irsay, whose discerning eye amassed a trove of cultural relics. Among these sought-after items, the live auction bore witness to a historical moment in each passing lot. Julien Pradels, president of Christie’s Americas, remarked that the sale honored the indelible mark left by the collector and the invaluable treasures he curated, narrating the tale of our heritage and era.
This monumental sale saw Gilmour’s guitar surpassing the previous record holder – a 1959 Martin D-18E formerly in Kurt Cobain’s grasp during Nirvana’s legendary 1993 MTV Unplugged performance – which sold for $6 million in 2020, merely five months before the rock icon’s untimely passing. Additionally, at Thursday’s auction, another of Cobain’s guitars, the blue Fender Mustang featured in the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ music video, commanded a striking $6.9 million.
The auction inventory also boasted other prized possessions, such as Jerry Garcia’s custom-built ‘Tiger’ guitar from the Grateful Dead, which fetched $11.6 million, and handwritten lyrics to Bob Dylan’s iconic track, The Times They Are A-Changin’, which sold for $2.5 million. Another highlight among the sold items consisted of a drum kit previously owned by The Beatles’ Ringo Starr, priced at $2.4 million. Notably, a trumpet once in the possession of jazz virtuoso Miles Davis went for $1.6 million, and Sylvester Stallone’s script notebook for the film Rocky was acquired for $508,000. Furthermore, a fight robe worn by the legendary American boxer Muhammad Ali at a weigh-in saw spirited bidding, culminating in a sale price of $444,500.
In total, the 44 items from the collection amassed a staggering $84 million, underscoring the enduring allure and significance of music and pop culture memorabilia among avid collectors and enthusiasts worldwide.