The Jim Irsay Collection saw five of the top 10 most expensive guitars ever sold at auction in a single day
The Jim Irsay Collection auction at Christie’s in New York is well under way, with yesterday’s lot featuring sales of some of the most iconic guitars in rock history. As you might expect, some fetched truly astonishing sums.
Widely described as the greatest guitar collection on Earth, the Jim Irsay Collection was the pride and joy of late billionaire and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, and features hundreds of guitars and instruments once played or belonging to rock’s most revered elite.
READ MORE: Why the sale of Jim Irsay’s Greatest Guitar Collection On Earth is a sad moment in guitar history
Following Irsay’s death in May last year, his estate took the decision to sell off his collection via a landmark auction at Christie’s in New York. That auction is taking place across March, with an online auction from 3-17 March, and live auctions featuring the bigger hitters on 12, 13 and 14 March.
Yesterday’s auction saw history made, as David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster once again took the crown as the most expensive guitar ever sold, raking in an eye-watering $14,550,000. Yep, over 14 and a half million… It smashed the previous record by some margin, held by Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Martin D-18E, which sold for just over $6M in 2020. The value of Gilmour’s Strat has more than tripled since 2019, when Jim Irsay purchased it for $3,975,000.
David Gilmour’s famous Black Strat needs no introduction. Purchased at auction for $3.9m in 2019, at the time the guitar was the most expensive ever sold
But that was far from the only multi-million dollar sale. In fact, the auction saw five of the top 10 most expensive guitars ever sold at auction – in a single day.
Eric Clapton’s iconic 1964 Gibson SG Standard “The Fool” also hit the auction block, and sold for just over $3 million, way above its $800,000 – $1.2 million estimate. That’s also a considerable markup, after Jim Irsay added the guitar to his collection in 2023 for $1.27 million. “The Fool” – named after the Dutch design collective that did its artwork, was used extensively by Clapton during his time in Cream.
Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images / Christie’s
The Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s custom-built “Tiger” electric guitar also demolished its estimate, fetching a final sale price of $11,560,000 – way above its $1m – 2m estimate.
Irsay purchased Jerry Garcia’s Tiger for $957,500 in 2002. Built by luthier Doug Irwin, it was the Grateful Dead star’s main guitar from 1979 onwards and in 1995 was the last guitar he ever played in public
The Fender Mustang used by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video was only the third highest-selling guitar from the auction at $6.9 million, but still above the previous record holder for the most expensive guitar ever, Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Martin D-18E.
Credit: Christie’s
Another guitar once belonging to Eric Clapton – his Martin 000-42 acoustic used for his 1992 MTV Unplugged performance – sold for $4.1 million, way over its $800,000 – $1.2 million estimate.
The updated list of the top 10 most expensive guitars ever sold can be seen below, with the new entries following the first day of the Jim Irsay Collection in bold:
David Gilmour’s Black Fender Stratocaster – $14,550,000
Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger” guitar – $11,560,000
Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Fender Mustang – $6,907,000
Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Martin D-18E – $6,010,000
Eric Clapton’s MTV Unplugged Martin 000-42 – $4,101,000
Eddie Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher Kramer – $3,932,000
Eric Clapton’s “The Fool” 1964 Gibson SG Standard – $3,003,000
John Lennon’s Framus Hootenanny 12-string – $2,857,000
Eddie Van Halen’s 1982 Kramer – $2,734,000
“Reach Out to Asia” Fender Stratocaster – $2,700,000
Other notable sales from the first day of the Jim Irsay Collection included David Gilmour’s Wish You Were Here Martin D-35 ($2,393,000), The Edge’s Gibson Explorer Reissue ($635,000), George Harrison’s 1964 Gibson SG Standard ($2,271,000), John Lennon’s Paperback Writer/Rain Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins ($1,270,000), Lennon’s stage-played ‘Rose-Morris’ Rickenbacker ($1,270,000) and Janis Joplin’s Gibson J-45 ($381,000).
A number of non-guitar items also fetched large sums, including John Lennon’s Broadwood upright piano, which brought in $3,247,000 – well over its $400,000 – $600,000 estimate – Miles Davis’s Martin Committee trumpet ($1,651,000) and The Beatles’ logo drum head used on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 ($2,881,000).
All in all, day one of the Jim Irsay Collection auction brought in $84,091,350.
You can take a look at all the final sales figures from day one of the Jim Irsay Collection auction at Christie’s. The auction continues today – you can preview what’s hitting the auction block now.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
