Credit: Anton_Corbijn

David Gilmour’s ‘Black Strat’ sells for $14.5 million and becomes most expensive guitar in history

Fri 13 March 2026 9:21, UK

David Gilmour‘s iconic ‘Black Strat’ has become the most expensive guitar in history after going under the hammer on March 12th.

The sale took place Christie’s auction for the Jim Irsay collection in New York, and trounced the previous record that was set at $6 million when Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E, which he used on MTV Unplugged, was sold in 2020.

After more than 20 minutes of bidding in New York, the ‘Black Strat’ was sold for a total of $14.5 million, according to Guitar World. The identity of the bidder is currently unknown. It was previously bought by Jim Irsay in 2019 for just over $5 million.

The guitar was used by Gilmour on a number of iconic songs in Pink Floyd’s catalogue, such as ‘Comfortably Numb’, ‘Money’, and ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. It appeared on their albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

Elsewhere, at the Christie’s auction, Jerry Garcia’s ‘Tiger’ guitar was sold for the jaw-dropping price of $11.5 million, which would have also eclipsed the world record if it had not been for the sale of Gilmour’ ‘Black Strat’.

Irsay, who had the two guitars in his collection, was an American billionaire who owned the NFL team Indianapolis Colts, but passed away last year, which is why his items headed to auction.

Other items that sold for more than seven figures include guitars by Eric Clapton, Kurt Cobain and George Harrison.

Prior to the auction, Christie’s described Irsey’s collection as “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”

They also confirmed “a portion of the proceeds of these sales will be donated to philanthropic causes supported by Jim Irsay during his lifetime”.