Eric Clapton And Kurt Cobain Guitarist Lead Julien Auction

10/09/2023 11:41 AM EDT

(Homage) In celebration of its 20th anniversary as the industry's leading rock n' roll auction house, Julien's Auctions has announced its most extraordinary lineup of marquee items to date featuring two of the most important guitars ever to be offered at auction-Eric Clapton's "The Fool" and Kurt Cobain's "Skystang I."

"PLAYED, WORN, & TORN: ROCK 'N' ROLL ICONIC GUITARS AND MEMORABILIA" is taking place beginning with a special evening session on Thursday, November 16th and traditional sessions on Friday, November 17th and Saturday, November 18th, 2023 live for the first time in Music City at Hard Rock® Cafe Nashville and online at Julien's Live.

The acclaimed auction house has amassed over 1,000 historic items owned and used by a lineup of music legends that includes Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, Prince, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Pete Townshend, Johnny Cash, Albert King, Dolly Parton, Eddie Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Dee Dee Ramone, Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, Slash from Guns N' Roses, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and more.

Headlining the auction stage will be one of the most immediately recognizable, historically and musically important guitars of all time, from the towering icon whose influence shaped rock history and the sound of classic rock and roll itself: Eric Clapton. This circa 1964 Gibson SG electric guitar, first stage-played by the legendary guitarist while touring the United States with iconic rock band Cream, is famously known as Clapton's "Fool" (estimate: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000).

The guitar exhibits a custom-painted psychedelic finish created by members of the Dutch art collective known as "The Fool," whose help Cream's manager Robert Stigwood enlisted to add their psychedelic magic to Cream's career-defining instruments and costumes. The most famous of these was this guitar, which they sanded and primed before executing their design with brush applied oilbased enamel paints. It is perhaps the pre-eminent surviving symbol of the "Summer of Love" and of psychedelia, and it has been reproduced on countless book and magazine covers, and discussed in countless articles and videos ever since its creation.

The Fool guitar burst upon the world at a pivotal moment in music history. Clapton had just left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to form Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Coming off the release of their first album, Fresh Cream in 1966, their 1967 debut U.S. tour began at New York's RKO 58th Street Theater with a cavalcade lineup of artists, including "Direct from England, The Cream and The Who." Neither band had played in the United States before and despite Cream's brief role in the show, their stunning custom-painted instruments, hairstyles and clothing made an unforgettable impact and launched their career as the world's-first supergroup.

The influence of Clapton's "woman tone" that was fully developed on this guitar cannot be overstated. The albums that followed Fresh Cream are all infused with the sounds of The Fool including 1967's Disraeli Gears, that includes the defining Cream song, "Sunshine of Your Love," and other signature songs such as "Tales of Brave Ulysses," and "Strange Brew," 1968's Wheels of Fire (the world's-first platinum double album) that includes "White Room," "Politician," and-perhaps the most-copied song in any blues band's repertoire--"Crossroads", and 1969's Goodbye album. This guitar made history.

Clapton's "Fool" remained his principal guitar for most of the work that followed Fresh Cream (photo left credit: Getty Michael Ochs archives). A 2022 Guitar Player Magazine article commented: "...Clapton had begun playing a 1964 Gibson SG painted with psychedelic images by the Dutch art collective The Fool, an instrument that was key to the harmonically rich, vocal "woman tone" that would characterize his playing during this era. Clapton's longest-lasting contribution to the genre may well be his singular "woman tone" which remains both a hallmark of the era and a Holy Grail for many guitarists more than 50 years on."

The guitar was later owned and stage played by Todd Rundgren, who called it "Sunny" after Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love," until he sold it at auction to its present owner in 2000. A portion of the auction proceeds from The Fool will benefit "Kicking The Stigma", the Indianapolis Colts' and the Jim Irsay's family wide-reaching initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders and to end the stigma too often associated with these illnesses.

At the center of this auction will be another legendary guitar- the "Skystang I"-played by Kurt Cobain during his final public performance during Nirvana's 1993-1994 In Utero tour (estimate: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000).

This blue left-handed Fender Mustang electric guitar is the most well-documented and recognizable of all of the rock icon's stage played instruments and is being offered for the first time at auction on the 30th anniversary of Nirvana's third and final studio album, In Utero. Used for the majority of Nirvana's 1993-1994 tour dates, former Nirvana guitar technician Earnie Bailey refers to this Electric Blue Mustang as the Nirvana front man's "workhorse." From its In Utero stage debut on October 18th, 1993 at the Arizona State Fair Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, to the band's final performance on March 1, 1994 at Terminal 1 in Munich, this storied guitar was used during 53 of the 63 In Utero tour performances and the band's final chapter.

In his final interview with Guitar World, Cobain called the Fender Mustang his "favorite" guitar model and in 1993 placed an order with Fender for ten left-handed Mustangs in preparation for the upcoming In Utero tour. Skystang I was delivered to Cobain in July of 1993 along with another Mustang in Fiesta Red, nicknamed "Oranj-Stang"- the guitar used during Nirvana's performance later that month at Roseland Ballroom.

From 1993-1994, Nirvana was in the midst of a full tour schedule across North America and Europe promoting the In Utero album that included a stop in New York's MTV studios on November 18th, 1993 to tape what would become Nirvana's most legendary performance on MTV Unplugged. Although MTV Unplugged is often thought of as Nirvana's last performance, the band's final show took place at Terminal 1, Flughafen, Munich, Germany, with Cobain's much heralded and poignant "last song" performance of "Heart-Shaped Box,' the first single released from In Utero and final encore. A local camera crew captured on film that night Cobain playing Skystang I, including the band kicking off the show with their take on "My Best Friend's Girl," by the Cars and their performance of "Come as You Are," which had to be re-started after a power outage.
Other notable concerts where Cobain played Skystang I include his final U.S. performance, in Seattle on January 8th, 1994 at the Seattle Center Arena and the start of their European tour in Paris on February 4th, 1994. Cobain also played Skystang I on nearly every song during MTV's Live and Loud, filmed on December 13th, 1993, in Seattle at Pier 48 with the guitar's unique "yellow V" anomaly on the pick guard and distinct white humbucker pickup seen throughout the show.
The guitar, owned by Kurt's brother Chad Cobain, has been on loan to Seattle's MoPOP since 2007 (then known as The Experience Music Project), where it went on display in 2009. It was also part of the Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibit which opened in 2011, and traveled with that exhibit to Brazil for six months in 2017, then returned to MoPOP where it has been on display until September 2023. A portion of the proceeds from the auction of this legendary guitar also will benefit "Kicking The Stigma."

Another exceptional guitar from Kurt Cobain is his stage-played cream Fender Stratocaster electric guitar that Cobain smashed at the end of Nirvana's performance in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 30th, 1992 (estimate: $500,000 - $700,000). The guitar includes the band signatures and a poem written by Dave Grohl on the guitar within a heart-shaped bubble: "Hello. My name is Dave. I like Rave. It'll drive me to my grave. But I'm not dumb. I play drums with two green thumbs and a sour plumb that makes the roof of my mouth numb - David." A stick figure is drawn inside the hole where the jackplate would have been, with a text bubble that reads "Help me!" with "The Who" handwritten on the back plate of the guitar.

The guitar's storied lore consists of Cobain's first use of this guitar during Nirvana's show in Osaka, Japan, on February 14th, 1992 and purchase in Japan for this show since it is an "MIJ" (made in Japan) model as well as its destruction by Cobain at the end of this show. Later it was repaired and used during Nirvana's 1992 shows in Honolulu, Hawaii; Stockholm, Sweden; and the MTV Music Awards in Los Angeles before being played by Cobain in Buenos Aires, where it was destroyed. The guitar was won by a contest winner on the BBC Radio 1 Annie Nightingale Show in July 1992 along with two tickets to the Reading Festival show in Reading, England, on August 30th, 1992, to see Nirvana perform. The radio show had initially advertised the guitar that Cobain would use at the Reading Festival to the contest winner, but the guitar was not available, and the winner received the damaged but signed Buenos Aires guitar instead. The lot is accompanied by the Reading Festival guest pass.

Other Kurt Cobain legacy items on offer include his signature distressed and patched Levi's button-fly blue jeans with rips and shredded thread remains and floral pattern fabric hems at the bottom of each leg (estimate: $10,000 - $20,000); his size medium Kingsroad Sportswear/Sears vintage button-front argyle cardigan in shades of yellow with a tag that reads "60% orlon acrylic/40% virgin mohair" (estimate: $6,000 - $8,000) as well as iconic items such as Cobain's cassette tapes with handwritten notes, his pack of cigarettes, a Nirvana band signed In Utero promo poster and more.

Julien's Auctions made headlines worldwide with its sale of Kurt Cobain's "MTV Unplugged" 1959 Martin D-18E acousticelectric guitar, which sold for $6 million in 2020 making it the world's most expensive guitar ever sold at auction and garnered Julien's its third Guinness Book of World Record placement. Julien's has broken records with the sale of Kurt Cobain's memorabilia including Cobain's cardigan worn on MTV Unplugged in New York, which sold for a record $334,000, his In Utero tour Fender Mustang guitar which sold for $340,000, a self-portrait caricature drawing by Cobain of himself playing guitar signed "Kurdt Kobain Rock Star" which sold for over $281,000, his cardigan worn on his last photoshoot which sold for $75,000 and a Nirvana paper plate set list written in Cobain's handwriting, which sold for a record $22,400.

An Historic Vintage Guitar Collection

A stunning collection of some of the world's finest and historically significant vintage guitars will be offered at this once in a lifetime auction. A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard sunburst electric guitar is one of the exceptional highlights (estimate: $300,000 - $500,000) (photo left). The 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard sunburst model guitar represents the pinnacle of collectible solid body electric guitars, defining the "Rock n Roll" sound with their solid mahogany body figured maple top, Brazilian rosewood fretboard and the original "Patent Applied For" humbucking pickups. Other examples of this model have notably been used by such greats as Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, and Eric Clapton.