David Gilmour’s Guitar Collection Sells for $21 Million
Earlier today (June 20), David Gilmour of Pink Floyd auctioned off 127 guitars from his collection, raising a total of $21,490,750. The auction, which took place at Christie's in New York, set several world records for sales of guitars.
First among these was "Black Strat," the 1969 Fender Stratocaster that Gilmour used on every Pink Floyd album from The Dark Side of the Moon until The Final Cut. It was the last instrument sold on the day, and went for $3.975 million, which Christie's says is the highest price a guitar has sold for at an auction.
Two other guitars broke the million-dollar mark: a 1954 pre-production white Strat with gold parts and serial number 0001 ($1,815 million) and a 1969 Martin D-35 acoustic on which Gilmour has said that he's written the most songs. Its sale price -- $1.095 million -- bests the previous record for a Martin, which was $791,500 for a 1939 OO0-42 that had belonged to Eric Clapton. Another Martin acoustic, a D-12 28 12-string that was used on "Wish You Were Here" and "Hey You," went for $531,000.
The auction also set a new record for a price of a Gibson Les Paul, in this case 1955 gold top on which Gilmour played the solo for "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2." It sold for $447,000. His 1984 candy apple red Strat that was his main guitar between 1988 and 2005 raised $615,000.
Christie's tweeted out some highlights from the auction. You can check them out below and see the entire collection and sale prices at their website.
Gilmour is donating all the proceeds from the auction to ClientEarth, a global organization that defines itself as "a charity that uses the power of the law to protect the planet and the people who live on it. We are lawyers and environmental experts who are fighting against climate change and to protect nature and the environment."
“The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible. I hope that the sale of these guitars will help ClientEarth in their cause to use the law to bring about real change,” Gilmour said, “We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”
"David Gilmour's remarkable gift will support our work battling the climate crisis and protecting nature for future generations," ClientEarth CEO James Thornton added.