Items owned by The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Prince and more to go to $1 billion auction in New York
A seismic collection of over 400 items, previously owned by a litany of musical icons including each of The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Prince and more are set to go to a massive auction in New York worth $1 billion.
The enormous collection of music memorabilia from some of the biggest stars on the planet was collated over the course of American businessman Jim Irsay’s lifetime, and is now going under the hammer at Christie’s in New York after the Indianapolis Colts CEO passed away last May.
The auction includes various guitars played by each of The Beatles, the drum skin of their logo used during their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, one of Johnny Cash’s acoustic guitars, and a custom yellow cloud guitar owned by Prince.
It also features acclaimed artefacts such as a microphone used by Jim Morrison, and handwritten items such as Bob Dylan’s lyrics for ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’, a letter penned by Buddy Holly, and many other prized possessions from across the cultural world.
The most expensive item in the lot is the Fender Mustang guitar that Kurt Cobain played in the music video for Nirvana’s defining hit ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, which is expected to fetch between $2.5 and $5 million in total.
Amelia Walker, the specialist head of private and iconic collections at Christie’s, told the LA Times that the items “deserve the kind of the pedestal that we give to art as well, because they are not only works of art in terms of their creation, but what they have created, what their owners have created with them — it’s the purest form of art.”
Walker noted that Irsay wanted his collection to one day be sold as “He said publicly, ‘I’m not the owner of these things. I’m just that current custodian looking after them for future generations’.”
Once the sale of the entire collection is complete, the profit is set to exceed an eye-watering $1 billion, with a portion of the proceeds going towards various charities that Irsay supported throughout his life, according to the Christie’s website.
The auction is set to begin on March 3rd, with all the items going under the hammer over the course of four different events.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.