Then, he will eventually resell it to another owner. Instead, he is going to tour it around for others to see and use the proceeds to help struggling artists. In a statement, he states that he was "scared shitless and shaking" when the auction came to an end and he secured the guitar for the equivalent of $9 million Australian dollars.įreedman doesn't plan to use the guitar for himself. The new lucky owner of the iconic guitar is Peter Freedman, an Australian music entrepreneur.
The previous record was $3.95 million for a Black Stratocaster owned by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. The case compartment also included three Dunlop guitar picks, a partial set of Martin & Co. guitar strings and a black velvet pouch containing knife, fork and spoon lapel pins.Īfter seven total bids, the guitar, as well as its accessories, sold for a record-breaking $6 million, making it the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction. The 1959 Martin D-18E guitar came with the original hard-shell case that Cobain decorated with a flyer for Poison Idea‘s 1990 album Feel The Darkness, two Alaska Airlines fragile stickers and three baggage claim ticket stubs. Cobain used the guitar during Nirvana’s legendary 1994 MTV Unplugged In New York performance. The guitar’s original starting bid was $250,000 and the auction began on June 19 on Julien’s Auctions. Read more: Police detained a Pussy Riot member for alleged 2019 riot involvement