Can guitars write history? Some certainly have; think Jimi Hendrix performing at Woodstock, or John Lennon and Paul McCartney and their musical creations with The Beatles. And you could say these 5 guitars below have written history ‘just’ by selling for thousands to millions of euros. Discover the story behind the top 5 most expensive guitars ever sold!
5. Keith Richard’s Gibson Les Paul Standard - €840,000
This sunburn Gibson Les Paul Standard owned by Rolling Stones’ Keith Richard is considered the holy grail of electric guitars. He played it from 1964 to 1967 before he sold it to Mick Taylor, who happened to join the Rolling Stones two years later. The Les Paul guitar has been owned by a few rock guitarists since Keith Richard played it - the guitar was even stolen and lost for some time - before it was sold to a private collector for €840,000 in 2003.
4. Bob Marley’s Washburn - €1 Million
In his lifetime Bob Marley owned seven guitars, which today are all considered Jamaican national treasures. This 22 fret double cut Washburn was given as a present by Bob to his guitar technician Gary Carlsen, who founded a charity in 2006 as an honour to Bob Marley and presumably sold the guitar to the Jamaican Government for over €1 million.
3. Jimi Hendrix’ Fender Stratocaster - €1.67 Million
This Fender Stratocaster was nothing special until Jimi Hendrix decided to make it his own. The right handed Strat was turned into a left handed one by Jimi who played at Woodstock, writing history with his rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner'. It was mysteriously lost for several years and eventually purchased by Microsoft’s Paul Allen for an estimated €1.67 million.
2. John Lennon’s Gibson J-160 Acoustic Electric - €2 Million
The second most expensive guitar ever sold was ‘wandering around’ on its own for forty years before the current owner discovered his Gibson J-160 actually was John Lennon’s long lost guitar. John Lennon used it while recording The Beatles' albums Please Please Me and With The Beatles, but then it was left behind by the band’s roadie at a 1963 concert. What happened to the guitar remains a mystery, but we do know since 1967 the Gibson has had two new owners – the first, Tommy Pressley, purchased the ‘incognito’ guitar for just €145 at a guitar shop. The second, his friend John McCaw, only discovered his guitar was John Lennon’s long lost Gibson in 2014 thanks to an article in a magazine showing a similar serial number and scratches. He sold the guitar for over €2 million and split the profit with Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono.
1. Fender “Reach Out to Asia” Stratocaster - €2.3 million
Unlike the other guitars from this list the most expensive guitar ever sold was not pre-owned by an artist. It was, however, signed by many. Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Bryan Adams, Paul McCartney and fifteen other rock stars signed this Fender Stratocaster in order to make it a desirable and therefor valuable item in auction. They did so for good reason: to raise as much money as possible for the victims of the 2004 Tsunami in Asia. And it worked! The white Stratocaster, manufactured for about € 17,000, was auctioned for € 2.3 million making it the most expensive guitar ever sold.
If you would like to own a guitar that has written history, keep an eye on our Musical Instruments auction for special ones. And if you win? You could write history with it yourself! Got a special guitar you'd like to sell? Don't forget - you can easily become a Catawiki seller. Put it up for auction by registering for a free account and then submitting photos, a description and proof of authenticity. Our team of in-house experts will then assess your submission and run a quality-check before scheduling the guitar for auction!
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