Kurt Cobain’s “MTV Unplugged” Martin guitar sells for record $6 million

Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E guitar, famously played in Nirvana’s historic 1993 “MTV Unplugged” performance, has smashed the world record price for a guitar at auction, selling for US$6,000,010 at a Julien’s auction in Hollywood today.

The guitar obliterates the previous world record of $3.975 million set by Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour’s “Black Strat” just 12 months ago, and continues a remarkable trend of ever-increasing prices at auction for guitars played by the guitar gods that have provided the soundtrack to our lives.

In becoming the World’s Most Expensive Guitar, Cobain’s $6,010,000 million Martin also smashed the record for the World’s Most Expensive Acoustic Guitar (previously $2.41 million for John Lennon’s Gibson J-160E), the World’s Most Expensive Martin Guitar (previously $1,095,000 for Dave Gilmour’s 1969 C.F. Martin D-35) and came within a whisker of becoming the World’s Most Expensive Piece of Entertainment Memorabilia.

This last accolade is an astonishing feat, as the acoustic guitar is now in second place on our top 10 entertainment memorabilia list, having surpassed the $5.52 million paid for Marilyn Monroe’s “subway dress” from the 1955 feature film The Seven Year Itch, the $5.375 million paid for Robby the Robot from the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet, and the $4.62 million paid for the Batmobile from Batman (1966).