Posted on 03/13/2026 8:20:51 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
Pink Floyd singer/guitarist David Gilmour’s iconic “Black Strat” electric guitar set an all-time record on Thursday (March 12) during a Christie’s auction in New York when it became the most expensive guitar ever sold. According to The New York Times, the guitar that was a key part of such classic Floyd albums as 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, 1975’s Wish You Were Here and 1979’s The Wall sold for $14.55 million to an online bidder in a 21-minute bidding war, more than doubling the previous record-holder, late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s Martin D-18E acoustic guitar which he played on MTV Unplugged just months before his April 1994 death, which sold for $6.01 million in 2020.
At press time the buyer was not identified.
Gilmour’s instrument can be heard on such beloved Floyd songs as “Money,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Shine on Your Crazy Diamond” and it easily smashed the pre-sale estimate of $2-$4 million. According to the Times, the black Fender Stratocaster purchased by Gilmour in 1970 from New York’s beloved Manny’s Music store in Manhattan is covered in scratches and chipped paint from decades of use; Gilmour played it on every studio recording from 1972-1983, as well as during many live performances in that period.
The guitar was one of a number of high-profile items that went under the gavel on Thursday as part of a sale of items from late Indianapolis Colts owner and pop culture memorabilia super-collector Jim Irsay, who died last year. Irsay bought Gilmour’s guitar in 2019 during a previous Christie’s auction for just over $5 million.
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$14.5 Million for the personal guitar of a Classic Rock Star! How much do you want to bet the buyer either doesn’t know how to play the guitar at all, or he hasn’t progressed past the “My Dog Has Fleas” training wheel levels.
But hey now. he’s rich with tons of disposable income.
These instruments are bought and sold, just like pieces of art, in order to get tax write-offs of the value of lending them to “charitable” exhibitions. In two or three years, the owner has written off the full value and “buys up” to a more expensive write-off.
Not even a picture at the site?
Fender manufacturers brand new guitars (Fender Custom Shop) that are distressed like that.
Hard to tell they’re new unless you lok closely.
Fifty years from now what is this Strat gonna be worth, I wonder?
I’m sure Irsey’s family can use the money.
My Dad collected tens of thousands of valuable stamps, spending tens of thousands of dollars and tens of thousands of hours of work.
When he passed, I took them to a stamp shop to get anything out of them that I could.
They refused to take them for free.
They went into the dumpster.
There has to be demand from someone who cares. This guitar will be cared about much less in 50 years.
There has to be demand from someone who cares. This guitar will be cared about much less in 50 years.
They’ll ask, “Which one’s Pink?”
I don't know anything else about the guitar and I'm a Pink Floyd fan and all, but the silly $$ valuations for Artist-owned guitars is nuts.
Stamps are...dead. My Dad spent plnty of time accumulating, not tens of thousand of hours, but I remember plenty of times we went into NYC to buy UN stamps. He went for souvenir sheets and plate blocks. Hr probably had 100+ sets.
They’re all pretty much worthless! I am not even sure that UN stamps, even though denominated in US cents/dollars, can be used for regular postage! I think they have to be mailed from the UN to be valid postage.
Only Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour had a tone from a different universe.
Cool!
For a “Partcaster”!
(means non original parts)
IMHO, and YMMV, but SRV understood Hendrix language, and could also speak it.
Agree with all that.
Like everything else, the worth of anything is what someone is willing to pay for it.
Recently a banana duct taped to a canvas sold at auction more millions for gosh sakes.
The excesses of this world at times boggle my mind. SMH
Gilmour has sold a number of his guitars for charity, so I wonder if this one was for charity as well?
In most of the videos I’ve seen of Gilmour in concert he’s usually playing a red guitar.
Question for those in the know about guitars: is there a reason he might use one guitar in the studio and another in concert? In concert there are always extra hired guitar players.
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