Christie's Sells Pink Floyd 'Black Strat' Guitar at Record Price, Surpassing Cobain's $6 Million Sale

Christie’s sale in New York set a new world record when David Gilmour’s Fender “Black Strat” fetched an auction price reported around $14.6 million, far exceeding past guitar sales and eclipsing the previous record set by Kurt Cobain’s instrument in 2020.

“- Published A guitar used by David Gilmour on six of Pink Floyd's albums has sold for a record $14”

BBC

Multiple outlets noted the headline figure — cited as $14.6 million by AFP reporting in the Jamaica Observer and as $14.55 million by other sources — and emphasised that the sale outstripped the prior high of about $6 million for Cobain’s guitar in 2020.

BBC

The splintering of reported final amounts ( $14.6m vs $14.55m ) appears across sources but the consensus is that this became the most expensive guitar ever sold.

Christie’s organised the New York auction that featured the instrument as part of a larger rock-memorabilia sale, and the buyer was not publicly identified.

Reports described a competitive bidding process that lasted around 21 minutes and resulted in an online buyer prevailing, with Christie’s declining to name the purchaser.

Courrier international

Coverage consistently located the event in New York on the same Thursday night sale that dispersed the collection.

The instrument came from the late Jim Irsay’s collection, which Christie’s was dispersing; Irsay had acquired the Black Strat at auction in 2019 for just over $5 million.

“Pink Floyd guitar ‘Black Strat’ sells at auction for record US$14”

Jamaica Observer

Outlets described the sale as part of a broader dispersal of Irsay’s pop-culture-focused holdings following his death in 2025, and identified him as the former owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

Media coverage consistently framed the auction as the dispersal of a rock-history instrument collection that had belonged to Irsay.

Journalistic accounts emphasised the Black Strat’s central role in Pink Floyd’s catalogue and live shows, while slightly differing on the exact years of use.

Sources described Gilmour using the guitar on all or most of the band’s recordings and concerts across roughly the 1970–1983 period (one account states 1972–1983), and noted its association with landmark albums such as The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

tv5monde

The sources thus agree on the instrument’s importance even as they offer a minor discrepancy about the start date of its use.

Several reports also highlighted how the final price dwarfed pre-auction estimates and previous records, noting the guitar had been expected to fetch between $2 million and $4 million and that it eclipsed the roughly $6 million sale of Kurt Cobain’s Martin D-18E in 2020.

“- Published A guitar used by David Gilmour on six of Pink Floyd's albums has sold for a record $14”

BBC

Coverage framed the result as both a surprise relative to estimates and a new benchmark for instruments tied to rock history.

BBC

Media therefore presented the sale as an extraordinary auction outcome that reset expectations for collectible musical instruments.