The historic three-day Julien’s Auction breaks two world records

Julien’s Auctions, the industry’s leading rock n’ roll memorabilia auction house, made its inaugural visit to Music City and held a historic three day auction. The “Played, Worn, & Torn Rock ‘N’ Roll Iconic Guitars And Memorabilia Auction” took place on from 16 to 18 November at Hard Rock, Nashville.

Featuring a spectacular line-up of over 1,000 pieces of music history from rock royalty, history was made in front of a room full of bidders at the Hard Rock, Nashville, and several thousand registered bidders online. The auction also took place on the phone, resulting in the largest number of registrants of all mixed music sales Julien’s Auctions has ever conducted in its twenty-year history.

Breaking Records

The headlining items at the auction were two iconic guitars that sold in unprecedented back-to-back million-dollar sales. On 16 November, Eric Clapton’s iconic “The Fool” guitar sold for USD1.27 million to The Jim Irsay Collection in Indianapolis. The sale marked the first time a Clapton guitar has sold for seven figures at auction thus setting a world record.

The next day, Kurt Cobain’s “Skystang I” Fender Mustang electric guitar played by Kurt Cobain during his final public performance during Nirvana’s 1993 to 1994 In Utero tour, was acquired by Japan-based businessman Mitsuru Sato for USD1,587,500. A portion of the auction proceeds for both guitars will also go towards “Kicking The Stigma,” The Indianapolis Colts and Irsay Family’s mental health awareness initiative.

Expensive Apparel

On the same day, the sale of Kurt Cobain’s photo-matched stage-worn “Heart-Shaped Box” video-worn and MTV Awards event-worn Levi’s jeans sold for USD412,750. 40 times over its original estimate of USD10,000, it also set a new world record for the most expensive Levi jeans ever sold at auction.

Additional Cobain items included his owned and worn argyle cardigan sold for USD13,000 (original estimate: USD6,000 – USD8,000); unopened “American Spirit” cigarette pack sold for USD5,200, and hand-drawn sketch and handwritten”Smells Like Teen Spirit” lyric notes sold for USD91,000.

Exceeding Expectations

During the final day of the auction, items from the life and career of legendary artist Frank Zappa sold upwards of 10 times their estimates including Zappa’s antique Crane & Sons pump organ sold for USD5,850, 11 times its estimate of USD500; Captain Beefheart Original Artwork sold at USD32,500, an impressive 65 times its original estimate of USD500.

Visit the Official Julien’s Auction Website for further information.