David Gilmour’s ‘Black Strat’ Sells for $14.55 Million
The guitar, which Gilmour performed on songs “Money,” “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” and his “Comfortably Numb” solo, beat Kurt Cobain’s earlier gross sales record-holding guitar
David Gilmour‘s “Black Strat” bought for $14.55 million on Thursday at Christie’s public sale for the Jim Irsay assortment in New York. The sale of the guitar marked the most costly guitar ever bought, besting the $6 million sale in 2020 of the 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic guitar Kurt Cobain performed throughout Nirvana‘s iconic MTV Unplugged efficiency.
Gilmour’s guitar was important within the recording of seminal pink floyd albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). He used the guitar when recording the songs “Money,” “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” and for his solo on “Comfortably Numb.” It was estimated to fetch $2 to $4 million previous to the public sale commencing.
Jerry Garcia’s guitar “Tiger,” which was custom-made by Luthier Doug Irwin fetched $10 million. It was considered one of Garcia’s drivers, he performed it from 1979-1989 and he performed it throughout his closing efficiency with the Grateful Dead at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 9, 1995. It was anticipated to promote for $1 to $2 million.
Christie’s The Jim Irsay Collection runs from March 3 to March 17. The aforementioned guitars bought Thursday throughout “The Jim Irsay Collection: Icons of Popular Culture” stay public sale. The sequence of gross sales is billed to incorporate “One of the greatest troves of memorabilia ever assembled, meticulously compiled over decades by the late philanthropist, passionate music lover, and owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts. A portion of the proceeds of these sales will be donated to philanthropic causes supported by Jim Irsay during his lifetime.”
Irsay first bought the Black Strat at auction at Christie’s in June 2019 for a reported $5.245 million, which had set a brand new document for a guitar on the time.
This article was up to date on March 12, 2026, at 11:42 pm ET to point the complete worth, together with public sale charges, for David Gilmour’s ‘Black Strat’ mirrored on the Christie’s web site.
