Guitars owned by U2’s the Edge, Eddie Van Halen, Elvis Presley and Eric Clapton were among the highest-bid items at a rock-themed auction that raked in over $5 million this weekend.
Julien’s Auctions’ Icons & Idols: Rock N’ Roll event also featured David Gilmour’s Guitars that have been stage-used from Pink Floyd’s Momentarily, Reason is temporarily lost era ($200,000, doubling its pre-auction estimate) and Amy Winehouse’s Fender Stratocaster, which the singer died performing onstage in “Take the Box”Music video: That guitar was sold for $153,000
Despite the controversy surrounding Clapton’s stance on vaccination mandates and Covid lockdowns, people still really like the song “Layla,” as Clapton’s Acoustic guitars that are stage-used from his time with Derek & the Dominoes sold for an auction-high of $625,000, beating its $500,000 pre-auction estimate. (Clapton’s handwritten lyrics for “Layla”It was sold for $37 500, however this is the lowest estimate of its pre-auction price.
The Edge’s 1976 Gibson Explorer Electric Guitar — used during U2’s The Joshua Tree tour — reached a high bid of $437,500, while Bono’s 2005 Gretsch Irish Falcon — played live when U2 performed “One”And “Walk On” — sold for $115,000.
(However, some of the auction’s more notable, previously announced items — like Kurt Cobain artwork and Robert Plant’s handwritten lyrics for Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” — never made it to the auction block for unspecified reasons.)
It wasn’t just instruments that hit surprisingly high bids that exceeded expectations: Frank Sinatra’s terrifying clown painting1991 sold somehow for $56,000. This was five times the pre-auction estimate. The mask featured on the cover of Quiet Riot’s Metal Health LP scored a $50,000 high bid, and the Go-Go’s Belinda Carlisle’s own Germs tee-shirt — the punk band she was a member of prior to her own Rock Hall-inducted outfit — sold for a whopping $22,000, over 20 times its expected sale price.