5/11/2020 – Julien’s Auctions – an auction house based out Los Angeles, C.A. will auction off guitars once belonging to Eddie Van Halen and Prince. The auction, dubbed “Music Icons 2020” is an annual event showcasing instruments and memorabilia by some of Rock’s most famous artists. The auction will take place on Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20th in Beverly Hills and live. According to the press release the guitars mentioned are: “Eddie Van Halen’s burgundy Peavey EVH Wolfgang guitar” and “a custom-made 1984 blue cloud guitar used by Prince.”
Peavey Wolfgang Guitar
In addition, other instruments and memorabilia will be auctioned from such famous artists as: “Prince, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Queen, David Bowie, The Police, Guns N’ Roses, Bob Marley, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Cher and many more. You can view the items for sale in person beginning on Monday, June 15th.
Prince Cloud Guitar
UPDATE: In addition to the two guitars shown above, the 1959 Martin D-18E used by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain in the band’s “MTV Unplugged” episode. The segment was filmed five months before Cobain’s death and pre-auction estimates approach a million dollars for this guitar alone.
Kurt Cobain “Unplugged” Guitar
(UPDATE 6/23/2020) Kurt Cobain’s Martin D-18 sold for an astounding $6,010,000 million dollars (US.) It was bought by Peter Freedman of Rode™ microphone fame. Freedman plans to make the guitar part of a traveling exhibition with proceeds benefitting the performing arts.
A Boss DS-1 distortion pedal used once by Cobain before he smashed it due to technical problems and threw it off of the stage in 1991, which was subsequently picked up by a fan in the audience sold for $9000 (US.) The Peavey USA Wolfgang once owned by Eddie Van Halen and given to Leslie West sold for $12,000 (US.)
You can read the full results of the auction here.
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Have you ever bid on an online auction for guitars before (not including Ebay, etc?) If so, did you win the auction? Feel free to post a pic of the item(s).