Kurt Cobain Guitar Sells For $4.5 Million

Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit guitar sold for $4.5 million (£3.6 million) on Sunday.

Indianapolis Colts CEO Jim Irsay bought the 1969 Fender Mustang guitar, which the late Nirvana frontman played in the band’s Smells Like Teen Spirit music video.

The guitar was also used while recording albums Nevermind and In Utero, used during numerous live performances, and displayed at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, Variety reports.

Following the conclusion of the online and over-the-phone auction, Cobain’s guitar will be kept in the Jim Irsay Collection.

Irsay paid $4.5 million for the left-handed instrument, though it was originally expected to sell for $600,000 (£477,000).

In a statement, Cobain’s estate announced a portion of the proceeds would go to Irsay’s mental health awareness initiative Kicking The Stigma.

In Cobain’s final interview with Guitar World, he revealed the Fender Mustang was his go-to instrument, saying, “I’m left-handed, and it’s not very easy to find reasonably priced, high-quality left-handed guitars. But out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favourite. I’ve only owned two of them.”

Julien’s Auctions President and CEO Darren Julien said of the sale, “To have this legendary guitar, one of the most culturally significant and historically important guitars of Kurt Cobain and in all of rock music history return to my home state of Indiana to be part of Jim Irsay’s renowned memorabilia collection is a great honour and personal highlight of my life.”

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