Bidders from all over the world competed to buy guitars from the personal collection of Pink Floyd singer and songwriter David Gilmour, which in total fetched a staggering $21.49million (over R298m) to end up as the most valuable musical sale in auction history.
Proceeds from last month’s sale of the 126 lots, which included iconic instruments played by Gilmour on Pink Floyd’s greatest record tracks as well as his solo albums, went to Client Earth, a non-profit environmental law organisation. Gilmour, 73, has been a fighter for animal rights all his life.
Over half a million people viewed the content of the auction on Christies.com and more than 2000 bidders from 66 countries registered for the sale at Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters. On the day of the auction a second salesroom had to be opened to accommodate the crowds.
Those who made it inside witnessed some extraordinary results. The best was saved until last when Gilmour’s famous Black Strat guitar, which was integral to the recording of many Pink Floyd albums, sold for $3.97m - a world record for a guitar on auction.
Gilmour bought it in 1970 and, of all the instruments in his collection, this off-the-shelf standard model black Fender Stratocaster served him the longest, having been played on every Pink Floyd album from 1970 to 1983 and all four of Gilmour’s solo albums.