David Gilmour’s ‘The Black Strat’ guitar sells for a record-breaking $14.55 million at auction

A guitar previously owned by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour has broken records at auction.

Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster, known as “The Black Strat,” brought in a record-setting $14.55 million from an online bidder at a Christie’s auction on Thursday. According to the auction house, the guitar was part of a 21-minute online bidding war.

That price tag for Gilmour’s guitar is now the highest amount ever paid for a guitar at auction, beating Kurt Cobain’s Martin D-180E, which he played during Nirvana’s Unplugged episode, which brought in over $6 million in 2020. 

According to Christie’s, Gilmour’s guitar was used in the recording of six Pink Floyd albums, including 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, 1975’s Wish You Were Here, 1977’s Animals and 1979’s The Wall. He also recorded most of his 1978 self-titled solo debut on the guitar.

In 2019 the guitar was purchased at auction by the late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay for $5 million. The latest sale was part of a larger Christie’s auction of Irsay’s vast memorabilia collection.

Other records set in Thursday’s auction include: a guitar Cobain used for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video sold for $6.9 million, the highest price for one of the rocker’s instruments; a custom Jerry Garcia-owned guitar known as “The Tiger” brought in $11.56 million, the highest price ever for a Garcia guitar; and John Lennon’s Broadwood upright piano, on which he composed songs for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, sold for over $3.2 million, the most expensive Beatles item ever sold.

The Jim Irsay Collection auction, featuring over 400 items, continues through Tuesday.

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