Smashed guitar yields unexpected amount

A destroyed guitar fetched ten times more than expected at an auction in New York. The man behind the destruction? Kurt Cobain, frontman of the American rock band Nirvana. The stringed instrument was reassembled for the occasion, but playing the instrument is a thing of the past.

Cobain's broken black Fender Stratocaster was expected to sell for a tenth of that amount at auction. The guitar was auctioned at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. Auction house Julien's Auctions auctioned more than 1200 objects from well-known artists from pop and rock history. It was also possible to bid on items from The Beatles, David Bowie, and Michael Jackson, among others. 

Cobain, who died in 1995, often broke guitars during performances. As an employee of the auction house explains: ''The man was angry, and you felt it on stage. And then you felt the way he handled his instruments.” 

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Unfortunately, the new owner of the Fender will not be able to practice his own skills on it, because although the guitar has been reassembled, it is no longer playable. The instrument was signed by all three band members with a silver marker. It also contains a loving inscription from Cobain to his friend and musical colleague Mark Lanegan. Cobain, who often misspelled his own name, signed the instrument “Kurdt Kobain”.

Cobain's signed Fender Stratocaster eventually changed hands for €550.000.  

Sold for $595,900. A lefty black Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, smashed by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana's Nevermind era and signed to the body by all three band members.

Julien's Auctions “Music Icons” at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City and on https://t.co/tzS6JKuf2p. pic.twitter.com/AXRuScNlcx

— Julien's Auctions (@JuliensAuctions) May 20, 2023