Smashed Kurt Cobain guitar & historic Nirvana set list going up for auction

Julien's Auctions

A guitar smashed by Kurt Cobain and a historic Nirvana set list are going up for auction.

The guitar, a black Fender Stratocaster, is signed by and features an inscription to Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan reading, "Hell-o Mark/Love, your Pal, Kurdt Kobain/Washed up rock star." It's expected to sell for between $60,000 and $80,000.

Last year, a Cobain-smashed guitar sold for over $480,000 at auction. Another Cobain guitar, the 1959 Martin D-18E guitar he played during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged special, holds the record for most expensive guitar sold at auction when it went for $6 million in 2020.

The set list, meanwhile, is handwritten by Cobain and is from Nirvana's April 1991 show at Seattle's OK Hotel, which notably featured the live debut of the then-unreleased "Smells Like Teen Spirit." That's expected to go for between $4,000 and $6000.

Both the guitar and the set list will be included in Julien's Auctions' upcoming Music Icons sale, taking place May 19-21 at New York City's Hard Rock Cafe and online via JuliensAuctions.com.

Other items part of the auction include an acoustic Top of the Pops guitar signed by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury's stage-worn New York Yankees jacket from Queen's 1977 Madison Square Garden show and an Eddie Van Halen guitar played during a 2008 Van Halen concert.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 12:00PM by Josh Johnson Permalink