On 18 November 1993, Nirvana produced one of the greatest live albums of all time: MTV Unplugged in New York. It went on to debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard charts, earn a multi-platinum certification, win the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1996 and, still today, is consistently ranked among the top ten live albums of all time.
During Nirvana’s flawless performance that night was Kurt Cobain’s mastery of the guitar, a 1959 Martin D-18E. He played it in what Rolling Stone called “his last self portrait”: “Surrounded by lilies, the flowers of death, Kurt Cobain sat on a soundstage almost five months before his suicide and made his last self-portrait.”
Now, this very guitar is going under the hammer, with a starting estimate of US$1 million (£815,000). It is the headline for the Music Icons auction, to be hosted by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills across 19 and 20 June.
Last year, the cardigan Cobain wore during this performance sold for $334,000, also at Julien’s Auctions.
The guitar comes with the original hard-shell case, which is decorated by Cobain with a flyer from the punk rock band Poison Idea’s 1990 album Feel the Darkness. Three baggage claim ticket stubs are attached to the handle, and an Alaska Airlines sticker is affixed to the case. The storage compartment contains Cobain’s half-used pack of guitar strings, picks and a suede ‘stash bag’.
See also: Frank Sinatra's Piano Sells for Over £80,000
Other items in the sale include Prince’s 1984 custom-made blue cloud guitar, which featured in his 1984 film Purple Rain (selling with an estimate of $100,000-200,000) and Paul McCartney’s handwritten working lyrics for ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ (estimate of $200,000-300,000).
Last month, McCartney’s handwritten ‘Hey Jude’ lyrics sold for nearly $1 million, also at Julien’s Auctions.
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