NEW YORK — David Gilmour’s iconic black Fender Stratocaster sold for $14.5 million at a Christie’s auction Thursday, setting a new record for the highest price ever paid for a guitar.
The previous record was held by the Martin D-18E played by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance, which sold for $6 million in 2020. That instrument’s standing dropped to fourth place following the auction of late billionaire Jim Irsay’s collection. Jerry Garcia’s Tiger guitar fetched $11.5 million, while Cobain’s Fender Mustang, played on “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” sold for $6.9 million.
Other notable sales included Eric Clapton’s Cream-era Gibson SG, known as The Fool, which sold for $3 million, and the Martin 000-42 Clapton played on his MTV Unplugged episode, which reached $4.1 million. Additional items included a Ringo Starr drum kit ($2 million), a John Lennon Rickenbacker ($1.3 million), and a George Harrison Gibson SG ($2.3 million).
In 2019, Gilmour auctioned 127 guitars, raising $21.5 million, with the Black Strat selling for $3.9 million at that time. Proceeds benefited the environmental charity ClientEarth.
“The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible,” Gilmour said at the time. “I hope that the sale of these guitars will help ClientEarth in their cause to use the law to bring about real change. We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”
Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, died in May 2025 at age 65. He was dedicated to making his collection of rock memorabilia accessible to fans through a touring museum that encouraged interaction with the instruments.
“To me, it’s really important that the museum is alive,” Irsay said in 2021. “I want it to be interactive. I like people to be able to say, ‘I played Tiger.’ Our emotional and spiritual lives are so tied to the arts, so tied to music.”