Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E Breaks World Record for Most Expensive Guitar Ever Sold

The guitar Kurt Cobain made famous during Nirvana's legendary MTV Unplugged performance set a new record by selling for an aneurysm inducing $6 million at auction in 2020, far surpassing the previous record held by David Gilmour's “The Black Strat,” which sold for $3.95 million.

Before the first bid was made, pre-auction bids had already reached $1 million for the left-hand-modified acoustic/electric Martin that he originally purchased from Voltage Guitars in Los Angeles.

The guitar received a grand total of seven bids, with the winning bid coming in at $6,010,000, as reported on Julien's Auctions website.

Notably, the lot included the guitar and its original hard-shell case, decorated by Cobain with a flyer from Poison Idea's 1990 album, "Feel the Darkness." Inside the case was a half-used pack of Martin guitar strings, three picks, and a "suede 'stash' bag" containing small silver utensils.

The winning bidder was Nirvana fan and owner of Rode Microphones, Peter Freedman. Freedman plans to use the guitar as a symbol to highlight the challenges that performing artists have historically faced. He intends to showcase the guitar on a global exhibition tour, with all proceeds directed towards supporting the performing arts.

Darren Julien, the president and CEO of Julien's Auctions, emphasized the historical significance of this guitar, which played an elemental role in one of the greatest live performances of that decade.

This historical significance, along with its provenance or history of ownership, were major drivers of the guitar’s overall value in the market and would be necessarily be discussed in a professional appraisal of such an iconic instrument. 

In addition to the guitar, the auction also featured various items from Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance, such as Curt Kirkwood's handwritten lyrics for the Meat Puppets' "Oh, Me," a typed setlist, and lyrics by David Bowie

A letter from Nirvana's management company containing a draft setlist for the Unplugged performance was also included in the sale.

In October 2019, Cobain's green cardigan from the same Unplugged performance was sold at Julien's Auctions for $334,000, setting a record as the most expensive sweater ever sold at auction.