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The go-to electric guitar David Gilmour used for decades on seminal Pink Floyd albums and as a solo artist, known as the “Black Strat,” sold for $14.55 million US on Thursday, leapfrogging to a new record for most expensive guitar ever sold at auction.
An unnamed buyer scored the iconic instrument during a live Christie’s auction after about 20 minutes of intense bidding.
It smashed the previous record set at a 2020 Julien’s auction when the Martin guitar Kurt Cobain played on MTV Unplugged fetched $6.01 million (all figures in US).
Gilmour originally picked up the black, off-the-shelf Fender Stratocaster in New York in 1970 as a replacement instrument, after Pink Floyd’s equipment was stolen early into a U.S. tour at the time.
“It became my main guitar … the one I used pretty much on everything unless there was a reason to want a different sound,” Gilmour told BBC Radio broadcaster Matt Everitt in 2018.
The “battered and beat-up” piece endured multiple alterations and customizations over the years and — after a period on loan to the Hard Rock Café for display — returned to the spotlight in earnest during Pink Floyd’s reunion performance at Live 8 in London’s Hyde Park in 2005.
“It’s been my experimental work bed for all sorts of stuff throughout the years,” Gilmour told Christie’s in 2019, when he put the Black Strat up for sale to raise money for charity.
It was purchased then by Jim Irsay, owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, for $3.975 million. Thursday’s live sale featured a host of iconic guitars and instruments, music and pop culture memorabilia owned by Irsay, who died in 2025.
It is just one of four auctions this month of the late music lover’s eclectic collection, which has often been lauded as including the world’s greatest collection of guitars.
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Multiple guitars sold make top 10 list
The Black Strat wasn’t the only record-smasher Thursday, which also saw four others join the top 10 most expensive ever sold at auction, according to Guitar.com.
The custom guitar Jerry Garcia played for over a decade — and in his final performance with the Grateful Dead — fetched $11.56 million, while one of the guitars Cobain used on the Nirvana albums Nevermind and In Utero, which he played in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video, sold for $6.9 million.
Two Eric Clapton guitars — a Cream-era Gibson SG dubbed “the Fool” ($3.003 million) and the Martin acoustic he played on MTV Unplugged ($4.101 million) — also joined the list.
All 44 lots on offer on Thursday sold, with the evening’s total coming in at just over $84 million (including auction house commission).
