Posted on 01/09/2026 2:25:50 PM PST by Libloather
Jim Irsay, the Indianapolis Colts owner who died in May 2025, was a world-renowned collector, amassing a trove of memorabilia from across sports, music, movies and pop culture. He said he once turned down a $1.15 billion offer for the entire set.
Starting in March, items from that extraordinary collection will be available for purchase via the auction house Christie's.
The Irsay family announced in October that it would sell most of Jim's memorabilia, keeping some items and providing a portion of the proceeds to charity. The decision, the family said at the time, "was not made lightly, but with deep reflection and love for the legacy he built."
ESPN had the opportunity to view a handful of pieces from the collection at the Christie's warehouse in Brooklyn, including Kurt Cobain's trademark 1969 Lake Placid blue Fender Mustang and Muhammad Ali's WBC Heavyweight Championship "Rumble in the Jungle" belt.
Christie's pre-auction estimates just for the items viewed by ESPN approach $40 million.
**SNIP**
Irsay's collection has no shortage of singularly recognized guitars -- including John Lennon's 1963 Gretsch Chet Atkins, played on recording sessions of "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" ($600,000 to $800,000), and Jerry Garcia's famed custom Doug Irwin guitar dubbed "Tiger" ($1 million to $2 million). Other guitars up for auction include David Gilmour's "The Black Strat" of Pink Floyd fame ($2 million to $4 million) and Eric Clapton's 1939 Martin 000-42 that he played during his MTV Unplugged performance ($800,000 to $1.2 million).
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
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But the drum head doesn’t match between the photos shown. One has much bolder type that almost looks amateurish to me, while the one shown assembled with the drum kit looks authentic.
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