New York: A historic guitar used by Pink Floyd musician David Gilmour has been sold for a record $14.6 million (£10.9 million) during an auction in New York.
The instrument, a 1969 Fender Stratocaster known as the “Black Strat”, was played by Gilmour on several of the band’s most famous albums. The guitar featured on Pink Floyd records released between 1970 and 1983, including The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall.
The sale took place during a rock memorabilia auction organised by Christie’s in New York. The bidding lasted about 21 minutes before the instrument was purchased by an unnamed buyer.
Auction organisers had expected the guitar to sell for between $2 million (£1.49 million) and $4 million (£2.99 million). The final price greatly exceeded those estimates and set a new global record for a guitar sold at auction.
The instrument was part of a larger collection of memorabilia that belonged to American businessman Jim Irsay, who died in 2025. The collection featured several iconic items connected to music, entertainment and sports.
Julien Pradels, president of Christie’s Americas, said that, “Lot after lot, we felt like we were making history.” Pradels added that, “The Irsay sale did justice to the brilliance of the collector and the monumental pieces he brought together.”
The record breaking guitar sale surpassed the previous auction record held by another famous instrument. A retro acoustic electric 1959 Martin D-18E played by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance in 1993 sold for $6 million (£4.5 million) in 2020.
Another instrument connected to Cobain was also sold during the same auction. A blue Fender Mustang guitar used in the music video for the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit sold for $6.9 million (£5.3 million).
Several other historic items were also purchased during the event. These included a custom built guitar known as “Tiger” that belonged to Grateful Dead musician Jerry Garcia, which sold for $11.6 million (£8.8 million).
Handwritten lyrics for Bob Dylan’s song The Times They Are A-Changin’ were sold for $2.5 million (£1.9 million). A drum kit owned by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr fetched $2.4 million (£1.8 million).
Additional items included a trumpet owned by jazz musician Miles Davis and a handwritten script notebook used by actor Sylvester Stallone for the film Rocky. A boxing robe worn by Muhammad Ali was also sold.
According to Christie’s, the 44 items included in the auction generated a total of $84 million (£64 million) in sales.
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