Smashed guitar yields unexpected amount of money

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

Cobain's broken black Fender Stratocaster was expected to sell at auction for a tenth of the amount. The guitar was auctioned at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. Here, auction house Julien's Auctions auctioned off more than 1,200 items belonging to famous artists from pop and rock history. This included items from The Beatles, David Bowie, and Michael Jackson, among others, which could be bid on. 

Cobain, who died in 1995, did frequently smash guitars during performances. As an auction house employee explains, ''The man was angry, and you could feel that on stage. And then you could feel it in 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 was reassembled, it is no longer playable. The instrument was, however, signed by all three band members with 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, therefore signed the instrument with "Kurdt Kobain."

Cobain's autographed Fender Stratocaster eventually changed hands for a sum of €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