The guitar Kurt Cobain used in the iconic music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” sold at auction over the weekend and went for an insane amount of money.
As previously reported, the 1969 Fender Mustang Competition Lake Placid blue finish electric guitar was estimated to sell between $600,000-$800,000. Its final sale price? A whopping $4.5 million!
Per a press release from Julien’s Auctions, “The guitar was acquired by The Jim Irsay Collection in Indianapolis in a bidding war among collectors and bidders all across the globe who participated live at the Hard Rock Cafe® New York, online at juliensauctions.com and on the phone…In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Cobain family is donating a portion of the proceeds of the legendary guitar and select Kurt Cobain items to Kicking The Stigma, the Irsays’ initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders and remove the stigma associated with these illnesses.”
This isn’t the first time a Cobain guitar sold for a massive amount of money. In June 2020, Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E Acoustic-Electric guitar he played during Nirvana’s episode of MTV Unplugged was estimated to sell for $1 million. The acoustic guitar sold for a staggering $6,010,000 million setting new world records for World’s Most Expensive Guitar, World’s Most Expensive Acoustic Guitar, World’s Most Expensive Martin Guitar, World’s Most Expensive Piece of Memorabilia and World’s Most Expensive Nirvana Memorabilia.