The three-day auction event will headline Julien’s 20th anniversary weeklong event in Nashville
Julien’s Auctions has announced their additional marquee headliners of the industry’s highly anticipated music auction event Played, Worn & Torn: Rock ‘N’ Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia, taking place beginning with a special evening session on Thursday, November 16th and traditional sessions on Friday, November 17th and Saturday, November 18th, live for the first time in Music City at Hard Rock Cafe Nashville and online at Julien’s Live. The three-day music auction’s full comprehensive catalog of over one thousand pieces of rock history that will be offered to the public during the main event of the industry’s leading rock n’ roll auction house’s 20th anniversary week-long celebration is now available online on their website Julien’s Auctions.
Joining the previously announced lineup featuring the most important guitars ever to be offered at auction–Eric Clapton’s “The Fool” and Kurt Cobain’s “Skystang I,” as well as one of the most iconic rock and roll buses of all time, Paul McCartney’s original and restored 1972 Wings tour bus–will be rare rock relics from the likes of The Foo Fighters, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Elton John, George Michael, Steve Vai, The Police, and more as well as new, uncovered items from Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Dee Dee Ramone and others.
Newly announced highlights include Presley’s red racing jacket, screen-worn in his role as Steve Grayson in the 1968 musical film Speedway ($20,000 – $40,000) and his 1950s 14k gold-filled Lord Elgin watch ($20,000 – $30,000) will reign alongside the previously announced lot of a sensational, fully-restored 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V that was personally owned and driven by The King of Rock ‘N” Roll ($200,000 – $300,000);
Beatlemania items such as a “Penny Lane” used 1967 original Gemeinhardt brand piccolo owned by Ray Swinfield ($6,000 – $8,000), who along with five other musicians, attended the session between 7 p.m. and 1:45 am in Studio Two at EMI Studios at Abbey Road in London, England on January 9th, 1967. Swinfield also used a Haynes concert flute to overdub onto an existing take of “Penny Lane.” Unbeknownst to the musicians, John Lennon taped their conversations in between takes for his personal collection; Paul McCartney signed Hofner brand Icons Series Beatles bass in a two-tone sunburst finish ($6,000 – $8,000); and a vintage black and white photograph signed by George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr of The Beatles at the Grosvenor Ballroom in Norwich, England on May 17th, 1963 ($4,000 – $6,000);
ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons stage-played and signed 2013 Lil Red Gibson SG electric guitar ($20,000 – $30,000);
A 2007 Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilt Eddie Van Halen Frankenstein replica electric guitar with a red, white and black stripe finish. This replica of Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstein” guitar serves an elite collector base and is a faithful reproduction of the guitar that Eddie Van Halen personally assembled in 1977. Fender produced a limited run of 300 replicas of this iconic guitar, making these very valuable and rare. The guitar is housed in an Anvil flight case that bears the Van Halen band logo as well as an engraved metal plate with the brand that has been reliced to reflect the wear on Van Halen’s original case ($20,000 – $40,000);
Steve Vai signed Monkey Grip prototype of an electric guitar in a white finish, together with an Ibanez hardshell leather carrying case. The Monkey Grip prototype was created when Vai was searching for companies to make what would become one of the best-selling signature guitars of all time– the Ibanez JEM. The design, created by Hamer, was developed based on Vai’s specs for the JEM. This is a rare guitar that Hamer made for Vai around 1985-1986, a pre-JEM prototype that Steve Vai used in the studio ($10,000 – $20,000);
Items from Guns ‘N’ Roses including a PSE Custom 335 style electric guitar in black finish, owned, signed and played by Richard Fortus of Guns ‘N’ Roses also played by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighter when he joined Guns ‘N’ Roses on stage to perform “Paradise City” in November 2017 at the BOK center in Tulsa, OK ($20,000 – $30,000). This guitar was custom-built by Philip Culleton of PSE Custom guitars in 2017 for Richard Fortus, the drummer of Guns ‘N’ Rose since 2002 as well as for bands such as Thin Lizzy, The Dead Daisies, and Rihanna; and Slash’s stageworn Use Your Illusions black leather biker jacket, signed by various GNR band members, worn during the band’s 1991-1993 world tour including on their June 6th, 1992 show in Paris, France and while performing with Brian May of Queen on The Jay Leno Show on April 5th, 1993.
A Pearl 28 kick drum used by Dave Grohl in the studio with Queens of the Stone Age as their drummer on the album, Songs for the Deaf when Grohl famously took a break from Foo Fighters circa 2001-2002 to join the band in the studio to record their third studio album, widely regarded as not only the band’s best but the last best hard rock album ($4,000 – $6,000);
Pat Smear of the Foo Fighters’ primary guitar, a 1970s Gibson SG Custom in white finish, that he bought used at Black Market Music in Los Angeles, CA and used while recording the Foo Fighters’ debut album ($10,000 – $20,000);
Two sheets of handwritten notes and a sketch by Kurt Cobain ($15,000 – $25,000) (photo above left) that features the underlined words “Middle name – Don – bakwards” and reads in part “One eye stiffened shut / the other strains from sleep / and sifts through two / paragraphs then takes / a deep breath.” The back of the front page features the words “Well beyond obsessive compulsion disorder / incessantly he pops the scoliosis infected cartiliage / in the neck and works feverishly on cultivating young / blemishes, never allowing them past the infant stage.” Beneath the words is a sketch in ink of a skeleton like man with his arms and legs crossed holding a cigarette. The notes join the Nirvana frontman’s previously announced collection of items such as his argyle cardigan ($6,000 – $8,000);
Prince’s 1997-1998 “Jam of the Year” tour black and gold reptilian suit ($15,000- $25,000) worn on-stage throughout most of his concert tour while performing songs from his repertoire, including “Do Me, Baby,” “If I Was Your Girlfriend” and his classic “Raspberry Beret;”
Items from Frank Zappa’s life and career such as his Trident Series 80B 30-channel console with manual and cables ($8,000 – $12,000). Frank Zappa is among the long list of celebrity musicians to record at the famed Trident Studios in the UK where he recorded parts of Chunga’s Revenge and songs from The Mothers 1970 in the early 1970s. This is where he likely got acquainted with the distinctive sonic character that the highly esteemed Trident consoles are well known for; his circa 1950s vintage Neumann Telefunken U47 microphone ($5,000 – $7,000); Zappa’s worn and photo-matched, pink and green striped long-sleeved shirt in the 60s ($300 – $500) and his first Evergreen Black Cat edition of Naked Lunch signed by the author William S. Burroughs and believed to have been read by Zappa on stage during a live reading on December 2nd, 1978 ($300 – $500);
Mötley Crüe’s most infamous items such as a black leather, fingerless, Hatch Accessories brand glove that was worn by lead singer, Vince Neil on his left hand for every performance, video, and photo shoot from 1982-84, such as the entire Shout At The Devil Tour and “Looks That Kill” and “Too Young To Fall In Love” music videos ($2,000 – $4,000); and Mick Mars’ Jackson electric guitar with natural finish accompanied by a custom plaque that indicates that the guitar was traded to Donn Bennett drum studio in exchange for a drum set for Mick Mars ($3,000 – $5,000);
A Sennheiser E865 microphone used by Sting performing with The Police on The Reunion Tour celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary during 2007-2008, along with an “ALL ACCESS” laminate from the same tour. The tour was at the time noted as the third highest-grossing tour of all time ($1,000 – $2,000);
An MTV Video Music Award Moonman Award for Best Direction in a Video for George Michael’s “Father Figure” ($15,000 – $20,000);
Elton John’s Kansa International brand blue and white blazer with Japanese motif and brass button that worn in his 1984 music video “Passengers” ($4,000 – $6,000);
A vintage rollalite Dunhill style lighter, heavily used by Wyman, with 18k gold hallmark, with a silver and gold cross hatch diamond pattern ($500 – $700);
Don McLean’s 1947 Martin 5-18 Terz acoustic guitar; and more.
The Auction Exhibition Tour runs from October 17-22 at Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly Circus, London, UK, Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square New York from November 6-11 and Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville from November 13-17.
