Kurt Cobain’s ‘Unplugged’ guitar sells for record $6 million at auction

The guitar that grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain played during his legendary 1993 MTV Unplugged performance sold Saturday for a record $6 million (over P300 million), the auction house said.

The retro acoustic-electric 1959 Martin D-18E that Cobain strummed for Nirvana’s career-defining performance in New York, just five months before he took his own life at age 27, sold after a bidding war to Peter Freedman, founder of RODE Microphones, Julien’s Auctions said.



At $6.01 million after fees and commission, the instrument was the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction, among other records. The starting estimate was $1 million (over P50 million).

Freedman said he plans to display the guitar in a worldwide tour, with proceeds going to benefit performing arts.

“When I heard that this iconic guitar was up for auction, I immediately knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure it and use it as a vehicle to spotlight the struggles that those in the performing arts are facing and have always faced,” the Australian was quoted as saying by Julien’s Auctions.

The guitar was sold with its case, which Cobain had decorated with a flyer from punk rock band Poison Idea’s 1990 album “Feel the Darkness”.


Until now, the most expensive guitar in history was a Fender Stratocaster, dubbed “Black Strat”, used by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. It had been sold by the musician for nearly $4 million (over P200 million) during a charity sale in June 2019.

Nirvana’s acoustic performance during the taping for the popular MTV Unplugged series on November 18, 1993 became what is considered one of history’s greatest live albums.

It included renditions of Nirvana’s hits “About A Girl” and “Come As You Are”, along with covers which include David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”.





 In October 2019, Cobain’s cigarette-singed cardigan worn during the “Unplugged” performance sold for $334,000 (about P16.7 million).

Agence France-Presse

Original artwork for Led Zeppelin’s first LP to hit auction block

The Led Zeppelin album cover will be on offer as part of Christie’s “The Open Book: Fine Travel, Americana, Literature and History in Print and Manuscript sale,” which will take place online from June 2 through 18.

The cover art for Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album features a black-and-white photograph of the burning Hindenburg airship, which was photographed by Sam Shere in May 1937.

The artwork was created by British graphic designer and illustrator George Hardie in 1969, when he was still a graduate student at the Royal College of Art.

After rejecting his initial ideas, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page suggested that Hardie adapt Shere’s photograph of the Hindenburg disaster.

Hardie created the cover illustration for “Led Zeppelin” by rendering the photograph in ink using a rapidograph pen to avoid potential copyright issues, with the band paying him $60 (P3,000) for the work.

“The idea of it was to use the impact of this but use it in a graphic interpretation. The fact is that it was the right thing to do because it’s really an iconic image plus it’s Led Zeppelin’s first album so it’s really good to go in there, not quite like a lead balloon, but like a streaming rocket… It’s a dramatic incident, it’s a dramatic album, it’s a dramatic statement,” Page said of the album cover to Time magazine in 2016.


Hardie later designed album covers for rock musicians and bands like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Wings and numerous others, many in collaboration with British art design group Hipgnosis.

The original illustration for “Led Zeppelin,” once listed among Time‘s 100 most influential images of all time, will now go under the hammer at Christie’s with an estimate between $20,000 and $30,000 (P1 million to P1.5 million).

“The historical significance of this album cover cannot be understated. It marked a major turning point in the history of pop music, heralded by the debut of Led Zeppelin… And the image has endured in a way that most other album covers have not; it very much has taken on a life of its own,” Peter Klarnet, senior specialist, books & manuscripts for Christie’s, said in a statement.

Aside from the cover illustration of Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut, Christie’s will also auction the first dated printing of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

This newspaper printing of what would become the national anthem was published in the Baltimore Patriot and Evening Advertiser on September 20, 1814, under its original title, “The Defence of Fort M’Henry”.


This rare printing includes all four original verses of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, which were completed by Francis Scott Key only three days before being printed in the Baltimore Patriot and Evening Advertiser.

The issue is estimated to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000 (P15 million to P25 million), with proceeds from the sale going to the American Antiquarian Society to benefit their collections acquisitions fund.

AFP Relaxnews