In addition to the record-setting $2.9 million sale of John Lennon‘s 12-string guitar, the two-day Music Icons sale by Julien’s Auctions brought big bucks for instruments by other rock legends.
The 1965 Fender Telecaster guitar played by Bob Dylan on his album Blonde on Blonde and on his now-legendary 1966 tour, and subsequently used by The Band‘s Robbie Robertson on countless other recordings, sold for $650,000. Jerry Garcia‘s Travis Bean “Winterland Ballroom” guitar went for $520,000. The Les Paul guitar played by Steve Jones during his time in The Sex Pistols went for $390,000.
The 1959 Gibson Les Paul that The Guess Who‘s Randy Bachman used to write and record the #1 hit “American Woman” went for more than $285,000. All told, the auction sold 187 of Bachman’s guitars.
Instruments used by U2 also did well: Bono‘s autographed 2005 Gretsch Irish Falcon guitar and a Fender bass used by Adam Clayton during the band’s Las Vegas residency each brought $260,000.
A yellow “Cloud 3″ electric guitar used by Prince in the ’80s and ’90s, once believed to be lost, went for a whopping $910,000, setting a new record for the most expensive Prince guitar ever sold at auction.
Other fun items that were sold at the auction include a red wrestling singlet worn onstage by Queen‘s Freddie Mercury in 1984, which went for $91,000; the sneakers Adam Clayton wore during U2’s Vegas residency, which went for more than $11,000; and a Versace dress worn by Tina Turner during her 1996 Wildest Dreams tour, which sold for $38,100.
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