An electric guitar destroyed by Kurt Cobain, famous and late leader of Nirvana, was sold this weekend at an auction in New York for almost $ 600,000, multiplying by ten the base price with which the sale began, according to what they reported in the auction house of the United States.
Cobain, who committed suicide at age 27, destroyed this Fender Stratocaster guitar, one of the many he knew how to shatter in his recitals, in the early '90s, when the band was in full swing with the iconic album Nevermind. According to Julien's, which sold a thousand historical musical items between Friday and Sunday at the Hard Rock Café, "the guitar is useless."
The instrument, they said, is restored but "does not even serve to make a minor #Mi." However, the auction started from an estimate of between 60,000 and 80,000 dollars and shot up to exactly 596,900 after thirty offers and launches, according to the company through a statement.
Cobain at a Nirvana show in 1993, a year before his death. AP Photo
The guitar is signed by Kurt Cobain and his bandmates, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, and includes a dedication to his friend Mark Lanegan, of the Screaming Trees, who was given the instrument in late 1992, during the Nevermind tour.
The high price tag for the instrument seems nothing compared to the $6 million raised in 2020 by another Cobain guitar, the 18 Martin D-1969E he used at MTV's unforgettable "Unplugged" concert, shortly before his death. That guitar holds the record for the most expensive ever auctioned.
Exactly one year ago, another Cobain viola had also been put on sale – but healthy – – as "one of the most iconic guitars of grunge". The operation was carried out in New York for a millionaire figure: four and a half million dollars.
The blue Fender Mustang guitar, auctioned last year for four and a half million dollars. AFP
It was the Fender Mustang with which the singer had recorded the video for the hit Smells Like Teen Spirit, a classic that in the early '90s catapulted the albumNevermindand the band to the top of rock.
This legendary guitar was owned by Jim Irsay (owner of the Indianapolis Colts football team), and part of the proceeds went to finance a mental health campaign.
Both Irsay and his daughter, Kalen Jackson, said Cobain's family supported the decision and made other objects by the American singer-songwriter available on the auction block.
After that auction, the Irsays announced that they would contribute the (not insignificant) sum of 16 million dollars to the mental health initiative.
The most expensive guitars in the world
The ranking of emblematic guitars auctioned is headed by the acoustic that Cobain used with Nirvana in the remembered MTV.
That Cobain viola surpassed, in dollars spent (six million), the Stratocaster of David Gilmour (guitarist of Pink Floyd) and that of Jimy Hendrix. Also – and it is not a minor fact – to the Gibson J-160E of John Lennon, who head the auctions of the most expensive guitars in history.
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