In an auction organized by Julien's Auctions, a guitar used by Kurt Cobain during the recording of Nirvana's famous "Unplugged" concert in 1993 sold for six million dollars, hitting a record price for a guitar.
The guitar was bought by the Australian entrepreneur Peter Freedman who attended the auction in Beverly Hills, California. Freedman, founder of the company Røde Microphones, said he planned to display the guitar in a worldwide tour, with proceeds going to benefit performing arts, according to the auction house. The guitar fetched a much higher price than the house's pre-auction estimate of $1 million. According to AFP, until now, the most expensive guitar in history was a Fender Stratocaster used by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.
The guitar dubbed the "Black Strat," was sold for $3.9 million during a charity sale organized by Christie's house in June 2019.
Cobain's guitar is a rare model made by the American luthier Martin in only 302 copies.
Nirvana's "Unplugged" performance took place on November18, 1993 during the most successful phase of the band's journey. It included renditions of Nirvana's most popular hits and David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World".
The concert occurred just five months before the suicide of Cobain on April 5, 1994. He suffered from depression and was a drug addict. "Unplugged" topped albums' sales after its release in November, 1994, and sold five million copies in the US alone, according to Billboard. Last October, a green jacket worn by Cobain during the recording of Unplugged was sold for $334,000 at an auction organized by Julien's.
