How much can an unusable guitar really be worth? If it was once played by Kurt Cobain, then the short answer is “a lot.”
The Nirvana frontman’s smashed-up Fender Stratocaster sold for $595,900 at a Julien’s auction in New York City over the weekend.
The guitar, which features autographs from Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl, was expected to go for between $60,000 and $80,000, according to NBC News. The guitar isn’t playable, but was reassembled for the auction.
It also features an inscription from Cobain to Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan, who died last year. The auction house said Cobain gave the instrument to Lanegan during Nirvana’s Nevermind tour in 1992.
The grunge pioneer took his own life in 1994 at his Seattle home. He was 27 at the time and had a penchant for smashing guitars throughout his iconic career.
At the same auction, Nirvana’s handwritten setlist from the band’s debut performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in 1991 was sold for nearly $51,000 — or twelve times its estimated price tag.
