An auction firm claimed Saturday that a guitar destroyed on stage by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain sold for over $600,000, several times its original estimate.
According to Kody Frederick of Julien’s Auctions, the busted black Fender Stratocaster has been repaired but is no longer playable.
It was autographed by all three members of the Seattle grunge band as they rose to international stardom.
The auction house predicted the instrument will sell for $60,000 in front of a live audience at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City.
Instead, it sold for $595,000, according to Julien’s, who described the figure as “astounding.”
“You can see here the break that took place as he slammed down the guitar, where the neck here kind of connects, as well as down here on the bottom where he slammed the guitar down,” Frederick told AFP earlier in May.
“Kurt Cobain, when he was on stage, when he played, he was a machine. The man was angry, and you could feel that on stage. And you would feel that by the way he would treat his instruments.
“This broken element, in a strange way, from this broken musician, that really defined this rough and tumble era of music.”
Many of Nirvana’s successes were written by Cobain, including “Come As You Are,” “Lithium,” and the 1991 breakout “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which became anthemic for a generation of alienated youths.
Cobain battled substance abuse and despair, and he had a turbulent relationship with his wife, Courtney Love.
He committed suicide in April 1994.
The three-day auction, which ends on Sunday, also contains items from Eddie Van Halen, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Bill Wyman, and Janet Jackson’s careers.
