The big "Music Icons" auction took place in Beverly Hills, California on June 19 and 20. The focus of the auction by the auction house "Julien's Auctions" was the acoustic guitar by Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain (1967-1994, "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), which he played at the legendary "MTV Unplugged" concert in New York in 1993. The starting bid was one million dollars (around 920,000 euros). However, the new owner of the instrument ended up paying more than six times – just under $ 6.01 million (around 5.4 million euros).
Other highlights that came under the hammer at the auction included the "Blue Cloud" electric guitar by Prince (1958-2016) and handwritten lyrics by Beatles legend Paul McCartney (78) for the "Abbey Road" song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". The highest bidder paid $ 563,000 for the guitar of the "Purple Rain" musician, making it one of the most valuable memorabilia ever auctioned in music history. What was already under the hammer?
You can never have enough guitars
Before Cobain's 1959 Martin D-18E semi-acoustic guitar changed hands, another guitar held the record for the most expensive model ever auctioned: About a year ago, US entrepreneur and NFL sports official Jim Irsay (61 ) the legendary "Black Strat" by Pink Floyd mastermind David Gilmour (74).
The owner of the Indianapolis Colts secured the black 1969 Fender Stratocaster for a sporty four million dollars. With the electric guitar Gilmour recorded great songs like "Comfortably Numb", "Money" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". The guitarist released a total of 126 six-string instruments for the auction, which raised a total of $ 21.5 million for a good cause. But there are other iconic guitars by famous masters that are no longer in the magical hands of their owners.
These included the white 68 Fender Stratocaster, which Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) played in Woodstock in 1969 (two million dollars), Eric Clapton's (75) legendary "Blackie" (just under $ 960,000), which the blues guitarist made from three different guitars assembled the Washburn 22 Hawk ($ 1.2 million) from Reggae grandfather Bob Marley (1945-1981) or the Gibson J-160E, a 40-year-old acoustic guitar by John Lennon (1940-1980) on which he composed some early Beatles hits ($ 2.4 million). Lennon originally bought the instrument for just £ 161.
Music legends and their artifacts
The piano, on which Lennon wrote, among other things, the century piece "Imagine", was acquired by a prominent buyer for a record sum. Pop singer George Michael (1963-2016) was the highest bidder at the Steinway piano auction in 2000. Cost: $ 2.1 million.
Such amounts are, however, peanuts compared to those of auctions from the classical music world: no less than $ 45 million was the starting bid for the Stradivari viola "Macdonald" at an auction in 2014, which was the violin "Lady Blunt" ( $ 15.9 million). The viola is considered the most expensive musical instrument in the world to date.
But apart from the instruments of famous artists, certain memorabilia from the music industry brought in astronomical sums. Back at the top of this list is John Lennon with his 1965 Rolls Royce Phantom V ($ 2.9 million), which he had colorfully painted for the "Magical Mystery Tour" film. His handwritten lyrics to the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" were also worth 1.2 million to a buyer.
But the biggest amount was $ 2 million for the lyrics by Bob Dylan (79) for "Like a Rolling Stone", which was voted "Best Stone of All Time" by "Rolling Stone". Michael Jackson's red jacket (1958-2009) from the 1982 "Thriller" music video, at $ 1.8 million, is a musician's most valuable item of clothing auctioned so far.