- The Fender guitar used by Kurt Cobain in Nevermind sold at auction for $595,910, more than ten times its original price.
- Another example is David Gilmour’s iconic “Black Strat”, which fetched $3,975,000 in 2019.
- The musical instrument auction market is booming, with prices becoming more and more astronomical.
The Fender Stratocaster guitar that Kurt Cobain used (and broke) while recording Nevermind has sold at auction for $595,910, more than ten times its original price.
The Nirvana frontman’s iconic left-handed electric guitar was pioneered by pioneering grunge bands in the early 1990s.
The guitar, restocked but unused, was estimated to fetch around $70,000 at an auction held at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe this weekend.
However, the price far exceeded expectations.
Nirvana’s guitar is signed by three band members, Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, as well as a Cobain inscription for the late Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan.
Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27, was recognized for his unusual performances, in which he destroyed several Fender Stratocasters on several occasions.
Sold for $595,900. A lefty black Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, smashed by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana's Nevermind era and signed to the body by all three band members.
Julien's Auctions "Music Icons" at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City and on https://t.co/tzS6JKuf2p. pic.twitter.com/AXRuScNlcx
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Another band “product,” a handwritten set list for a concert on the 1991 tour, sold for $50,000, 12 times the original estimate.
The final price for Cobain’s Fender is expected to be as high as another guitar the Nirvana frontman used in a famous live acoustic concert on MTV Unplugged in 1993 to sell for $6 million in 2021.
That concert took place just 5 months before his death.
Cobain’s Fenders and a Record Auction
In the world of music, the instruments used by great icons have become truly collector’s items.
Auctions for guitars and other musical instruments by famous musicians are experiencing an unprecedented boom, with prices reaching astronomical figures and dazzling fans and collectors alike.
One of the most prominent examples is the auction of the iconic “Black Strat” guitar of David Gilmour, the legendary Pink Floyd guitarist. The price of this guitar in 2019 was $3,975,000.
Another case is the sale of a “Reach Out to Asia Stratocaster” guitar by Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler.
Signed by many legendary artists including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Paul McCartney, the guitar was auctioned in 2004 for $2.7 million.
Bono and Eddie Van Halen’s guitars and Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” world tour jacket were also sold at the same auction in New York this weekend.
