David Gilmour guitar auction

[Wonks]

Interesting.

[ManFromGlass]

If this goes through I may have to buy a scratch and dent Variax from Sweetwater. No scratches or dents, I called them, but a very good price on limited colours. Even with shipping a major savings over local prices.

[Music Wolf]

The 0001 Strat has gone for 1.5m$, the D35 also exceeded 1m$

[muzines]

The 0001 Strat has gone for 1.5m$, the D35 also exceeded 1m$

What about the Black Strat?

Edit: Looks like overall it raised around $12.5m...
Dave should be pleased with that.

[Music Wolf]

What about the Black Strat?

.

Not come up yet (I guess it will be the last lot). I’ll take a guess at $2.5m

[muzines]

"The legendary Black Strat achieves $3,975,000, establishing a new World Auction Record for any guitar sold at auction"

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/musical-instruments/fender-electric-instrument-company-fullerton-1969-and-6198189-details.aspx?from=salesummery&intObjectID=6198189&sid=b8ff93a8-8cd0-4b63-843a-b13de6b35eed

All results:
https://www.christies.com/Results/PrintAuctionResults.aspx?saleid=28021&lid=1

[muzines]

Edit: Looks like overall it raised around $12.5m...

Now it's finished, it's actually $21,490,750...

[Eddy Deegan]

Edit: Looks like overall it raised around $12.5m...

Now it's finished, it's actually $21,490,750...

Not bad for a few lumps of timber with wires sticking out of 'em

[Agharta]

So what is likely to be the first 10 million dollar guitar if any iconic guitar was sold at auction?

Clapton!
Hendrix Woodstock Strat!
Other!

Jimi's guitar may be the most iconic in one sense but seeing as he possibly only played it for a few hours and there are Clapton and Gilmour guitars that were played for years and on legendary recordings they are hard to compare.
I'd take the Woodstock Strat in the blink of an eye.

[Eddy Deegan]

So what is likely to be the first 10 million dollar guitar if any iconic guitar was sold at auction?

Not that it would ever be in his lifetime but my bet would be on Brian May's Red Special ... at least, if it didn't go for a figure well North of the Black Strat I'd be absolutely amazed!

[Wonks]

All the guitars sold for much more that the guide price guide. Even very mundane items often sold for 40x-60x the guide price. Well, it was for charity.

A full breakdown, sale price and brief history of the guitars and amps here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c04kSeThUEI

[Hugh Robjohns]

Always wondered who are those people who spend that much effort to earn that amount of money and at the same time ready to spend such amounts on things also requiring so much effort to be competent in.

I doubt most will have bought those guitars to play them. They are historical/cultural 'investments' ...

H

[Drew Stephenson]

I remember reading an article a while ago about a warehouse, sorry, controlled storage facility, in Switzerland that is, in essence, just a series of massive safety deposit boxes.
It's full of stuff like this, artworks and various other 'investments' like bottles of wine.
All sitting there in their climate-controlled boxes, sterile, unused, unviewed, appreciating but unappreciated...

[Jack Ruston]

I doubt most will have bought those guitars to play them. They are historical/cultural 'investments' ...

H

Undoubtedly true. But that said, there's a difference between 'Collectors' guitars, and most of DG's guitars. They're generally players instruments. He's not so precious that he wouldn't use them, tour them, fix them if they were broken etc. And that lends them a robustness in respect of the fact that they're not immaculate historic examples, with all original parts, packaging, tags and cases etc. With a 'perfect' 50's Gibbo, that's worth 200k, if you tune it, you risk a crumbling machinehead, and a guitar that's then worth 10k. These guitars are players examples, and won't necessarily lose value by being played.

I'd also suggest that many of the people who've paid such vast sums may well have done so not because they think the guitars will appreciate, like a collectors guitar might - they may not go up from here - but because they want that connection to David, to Pink Floyd. They want to hold that guitar in their hands, perhaps to play the melodies that were written on it. If you can pay 3 million for a strat, you're probably not too concerned about whether it's then worth 3.3 million down the line - You're more likely the guy who wants to crank up a HiWatt and play those first four notes of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and know that no other human on the planet has that same opportunity.

That said, I don't think people will be putting them in the back of the car and playing them in the local.

J