Smells Like an Expensive Guitar: Kurt Cobain’s Mustang Sells For $6.9 Million

The astounding results are in from the Jim Irsay collection of music memorabilia recently up for auction at Christie’s in New York.  44 items were sold for a total of $84 million.  One of the items was Kurt Cobain’s 1969 Fender Competition Mustang which was used in the music video for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.  It sold for $6.9 million.  The buyer is currently unidentified. 

As important an artifact as that guitar is, it was only the third best selling guitar in the auction.  Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s ‘Black Strat’ sold for $14.5 million and Jerry Garcia’s custom-made ‘Tiger’ guitar sold for $11,560,000.  

Cobain’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ Martin guitar sold for just over $6 million last year. That guitar was donated to the Royal College of Music which will hold a series of exhibitions in several locations around the world for admirers everywhere.  Without knowing who bought the 1969 Fender Competition Mustang, we may never see it in public again.  It was originally bought by Jim Irsay for $4.7 million through a Julien’s auction.