Guitar used by Grunge rocker Kurt Cobain on the iconic ‘MTV Unplugged’ recording has been bought by an Australian audio businessman at auction for $8.79million AUD ($6.01million USD).
The retro acoustic-electric 1959 Martin D-18E was sold by Julien’s Auctions on Saturday to RODE Microphones founder Peter Freedman, becoming the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction.
‘When I heard that this iconic guitar was up for auction I immediately knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure it and use it as a vehicle to spotlight the struggles that those in the performing arts are facing and have always faced,’ Freedman said.
Kurt played the guitar during his legendary 1993 MTV Unplugged performance in New York just five months before his tragic death at age 27.
The starting reserve bid for the guitar at auction was only $1.47 million and was part of a series of music memorabilia being auctioned off during Julia’s ‘music icons’ auction.
The guitar was sold with its case, which Cobain had decorated with a flyer from punk rock band Poison Idea’s 1990 album ‘Feel the Darkness’.
The sale of the guitar on Saturday replaced a Fender Stratocaster, dubbed ‘Black Strat’, used by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour — as the most expensive guitar ever sold. That guitar sold for $4 million back in June of 2019.
Mr Freedman plans to display Cobain’s guitar in a worldwide tour, with proceeds going to benefit performing arts.
Nirvana’s ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’ album debuted at No.1 on the U.S. Billboard charts on release in 1994 and and has sold more than 8-million copies worldwide.
The record is widely considered as one the greatest live albums in history.
In October 2019 Cobain’s cigarette-singed cardigan worn during the ‘Unplugged’ performance sold for $334,000.