Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s guitar that he played during the band’s “MTV Unplugged” performance has been auctioned for $6.01 million (Rs 46 Crore), breaking the record for the most expensive guitar ever sold. The record was previously held by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s black Stratocaster, which sold for $3.95 million last year, reported Deadline.
Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E was the headline item for the Music Icons event hosted by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills. The guitar featured in the Nirvana’s “Unplugged” performance in November 1993, five months before Cobain’s death at the age of 27.
Included with the guitar is the original hard-shell case decorated by Cobain with a flyer from punk rock band Poison Idea’s 1990 album ‘Feel the Darkness’.
The guitar was previously owned by Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean Cobain, who reportedly gave it up during an acrimonious divorce from her former husband, musician Isaiah Silva.
Other Nirvana items in the auction included an autographed “Nevermind” poster, which sold for $56,250; the camera, negatives and signed prints from Nirvana’s 1992 Spin magazine photoshoot, which sold for $35,200; and a few Nirvana all-access passes, which sold for $512 each.