The guitar Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain played at the taping of MTV Unplugged in 1993 is going up for auction next month – and is expected to fetch at least $1 million U.S..
“This important guitar has earned its rightful place in Rock 'N' Roll history as the instrument played by one of rock's most influential musicians and icons in one of the greatest and most memorable live performances of all time,” said Julien’s Auctions president Darren Julien, in a release.
Cobain played one of only 302 D-18E guitars made by Martin Guitar for the show, which was taped less than five months before his death by suicide. The performance was also released as an album, MTV Unplugged In New York.
The guitar was owned by Frances Bean Cobain, the Nirvana singer’s daughter with Courtney Love. When she split from husband Isaiah Silva in 2016, he claimed she had gifted him the instrument. In 2018, a judge let Silva keep the guitar as part of the couple’s divorce settlement.
Last year, the cardigan Cobain wore during the show sold for $334,000 U.S. at auction.