Three guitars owned by the late Eddie Van Halen brought in a combined $422,000 at Julien’s Auctions’ annual Icons and Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘n’ Roll Auction earlier this week. The instruments owned by the late guitar hero were among other memorabilia sold as part of the event including items once owned/played by Paul McCartney, Gregg Allman, Kurt Cobain, Pete Townshend, and more.
Given Van Halen’s shocking recent passing, it’s no surprise that the three variants of his iconic Frankenstrat fetched the highest bids of the two-day event. Van Halen’s customized, hand-built Kramer electric guitar sold for a whopping $231,250, while his 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series electric guitar also sold for $140,800. Finally, a non-functional prop guitar played by actor Bryan Hitchcock in the band’s “Hot For Teacher” video, sold for an impressive $50,000.
Though the guitars likely made quite the profit for a lucky seller, Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, made a point to note the level of authenticity in a Tweet shared this week in saying, “The headline should read: ‘Three guitars that are striped were sold at an auction for charity’. They weren’t stage guitars. I had nothing to do with this. I don’t EVER plan on selling any of my father’s iconic guitars. The only place they’d possibly belong in is a museum.”
Other items sold in the annual auction were two guitars smashed by Cobain which went for a combined $281,600; Allman’s mid-1960s B-3 organ for $102,400; and Bob Marley‘s first-ever guitar which fetched $153,600. Music aficionados also took home Townshend’s first guitar, a 1936 Raiotone cello guitar, for $41,600; Jimi Hendrix‘s Octavia pedal which can be heard on the live album Band of Gypsys for $70,400; McCartney’s Texan FT-79 acoustic played and signed by the Beatle for $54,400; and many more pieces of music history.
[H/T Rolling Stone]