Elvis’ guitar sells for $1.3M
The acoustic guitar that Elvis Presley played on the historic Memphis sessions that ignited the “big bang” of rock and roll has sold at auction for more than $1 million, according to reports.
Auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll said the price set a record for a piece of Elvis memorabilia, although it fell short of the $2 million to $3 million estimate the auction house had touted before the start of the online auction, which began July 22 and ended Aug. 1.
The identity of the buyer — who apparently was the only person to bid on the guitar — has not been disclosed. The sale initially was reported by celebrity news site TMZ and repeated by the auction house on its Instagram.
TMZ and other sites reported the socalled “Sun Sessions” guitar sold for $1.32 million. The Gotta Have Rock and Roll site posts a sale price of $1.2 million, which also was the minimum starting bid for the guitar. The discrepancy is possibly due to the “buyer’s premium,” which is the charge added to the “hammer price” by an auction house after an item is sold.
One of the most significant instruments in the history of recorded music, the 1942 Martin D-18 guitar was purchased by Elvis at O.K. Houck’s Piano Store on Union Avenue in 1954. Elvis decorated the guitar with adhesive metal letters spelling out his name, but only “ELVI” remains. He sold the guitar in 1956 after using it during his first recording sessions at Sam Phillips’ Sun Studio at 706 Union Ave., where he, electric guitarist Scotty Moore and bass player Bill Black put a unique spin on such songs as “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “Mystery Train.”
Before the auction, the Elvis guitar was owned by Seattle-based DMX Music’s Michael Malone, a noted collector of rock instruments and race cars. Malone bought the guitar at an auction in 1993 for $151,700.