David Gilmour's Black Strat becomes world's most expensive guitar again
A series of guitars set records in the Jim Irsay Collection sale
Last updated 13 hours ago
David Gilmour’s fabled Black Strat has become the world’s expensive guitar for a second time.
The 1969 Fender Stratocaster sold for a massive $14.55 million (£11 million) during The Jim Irsay Collection: Hall of Fame auction at Christie’s in New York on Thursday 12th March.
The figure far exceeds the $3,975,000 it fetched under the hammer at Christie’s in London in June 2019, and it was the most expensive guitar of all time for exactly one year.
It was eclipsed by the $6,010,000 paid for Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged guitar in June 2020 – however that tally has now been more than doubled by the Black Strat.
Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour famously played The Black Strat on the ‘Comfortably Numb’ solo and it was integral to the recording of the Pink Floyd albums ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ (1973), ‘Wish You Were Here’ (1975), ‘Animals’ (1977) and ‘The Wall’ (1979), together with Gilmour’s solo albums and his live shows.
The vast collection of instruments and artefacts owned by American billionaire and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay, were put on sale this week by his family following his death aged 65 in May 2025.
Also part of Jim Irsay Collection: Hall of Fame auction, Jerry Garcia’s custom-built electric guitar known as Tiger became the second most-expensive guitar ever reaching $11.56 million (£8.71 million).
Cobain’s left-handed 1969 Fender Mustang Competition Lake Placid Blue Finish Electric Guitar from Nirvana's 1991 ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video sold for $6.907 million (£5.21 million) to become the third most expensive guitar ever.
Eric Clapton’s MTV Unplugged acoustic guitar was bought for $4.1million (£3.09 million) and his Gibson SG Standard known as The Fool sold for $3 million (£2.26 million).
In total, the 44 items in the Jim Irsay Collection auction put up for sale on Thursday fetched $84,091,350 (£63,386,236). 78 more items are up for sale today.