Pink Floyd guitar ‘Black Strat’ sells at auction for record US$14.6 m
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — A guitar used by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on some of the British progressive rock band’s best-loved albums has sold for a record $14.6 million, auction house Christie’s said.
The price of the Fender Stratocaster nicknamed “Black Strat” far surpassed that of the previous record holder, a guitar owned by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain that sold for $6 million in 2020.
Gilmour played Black Strat on every Pink Floyd album between 1970 and 1983, including “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Animals” and “The Wall.”
Christie’s did not provide the name of the buyer, who prevailed after 21 minutes of bidding.
The auction on Thursday in New York featured rock memorabilia from the collection of Jim Irsay, the former owner of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team, who died in 2025.
Other guitars sold at the auction included a custom-made instrument that belonged to Jerry Garcia, co-founder of psychedelic rockers the Grateful Dead, which sold for $11.6 million, Christie’s said.
A blue Fender Mustang belonging to Cobain that featured in the music video of Nirvana’s 1990s grunge anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit” sold for $6.9 million.
David Guilmours “Black Strat” is displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christies Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. Irsay, a larger-than-life billionaire who inherited the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts from his father Robert and oversaw the franchise for decades, died in May 2025. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
