The guitar performed by late rock legend Kurt Cobain on the anthemic grunge observe “Smells Like Teen Spirit” goes below the hammer subsequent month.
The 1966 Fender Mustang is amongst a treasure trove of devices and musical memorabilia that additionally consists of the logo-emblazoned drum that introduced The Beatles to the United States when the Fab Four performed “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964.
The Jim Irsay assortment — put collectively by the one-time proprietor of the Indianpolis Colts NFL crew — consists of guitars performed by musicians who outlined the twentieth century, together with Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, in addition to Eric Clapton, John Coltrane and Johnny Cash.
But on the middle of the gathering are handwritten lyrics for The Beatles’ smash “Hey Jude” in addition to guitars performed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
“I think it’s fair to say that this collection of Beatles instruments…is the most important assembled Beatles collection for somebody who wasn’t a member of the band,” Amelia Walker, the London-based head of personal and iconic collections at Christie’s, informed AFP in Beverly Hills.
“There are five Beatles guitars in his collection, as well as Ringo Starr’s first Ludwig drum kit (and) John Lennon’s piano, on which he composed several songs from Sergeant Pepper.”
Also included is “the drum skin from Ringo’s second Ludwig kit, which is the vision which greeted 73 million Americans who tuned in to watch ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ on the ninth of February 1964 when the Beatles broke America.”
The drum equipment is predicted to fetch round $2 million, whereas the guitars might promote for round $1 million on the public sale in New York, Christie’s estimates.
Perhaps the costliest merchandise within the assortment is Cobain’s guitar, which consultants say would possibly promote for as much as $5 million.
“It’s a talismanic guitar for people of my generation… who lived through grunge,” mentioned Walker. “‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was the anthem of that generation. That video is so iconic. We’re incredibly proud and privileged to have that here.”
© 2026 AFP