A guitar played by Eddie Van Halen, his brother Alex’s drumkit, and memorabilia from Kurt Cobain, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Cher, Lady Gaga, Madonna and more are up for grabs at the Music Icons auction by Julien’s Auctions, which will take place from June 11-13 2021.
In total, more than 1,000 items will be auctioned off, with items from Prince, Elton John, Little Richard, Whiteny Houston and more joining the sale’s lineup.
“This kit from the 1980 Van Halen Invasion World Tour spent 5 years on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland,” Alex Van Halen said in a statement. “It’s the only one like it in the world and I’m happy that 100% of the selling price will be going to charity via the Frangioni Foundation and Mr. Holland’s Opus.”
The drum has a conservative estimate of $200,000 – $300,000.
Five Charvel EVH Art Series electric guitars designed, hand stripped and played by Eddie Van Halen will join his brother’s drum kit. The lot comes with a photograph of Eddie Van Halen playing the guitar live on stage with Van Halen in 2012.
Many other Van Halen guitars are also up, including a red guitar with a unique black and white hand-striped design by Van Halen that pays homage to his legendary ‘Frankenstein’ Mark II guitar—and is uniquely numbered “5150”—the name of EVH’s recording studio (and also the date that he played this guitar, 5.15.08.) Each of these guitars a conservative estimate of $30,000 – $50,000.
From Dylan comes a sheet of notepaper from The Atlantic Lumber Company in Boston, Massachusetts, containing handwritten lyrics and chord annotations in pencil by Dylan to his 1969 song “Lay Lady Lay.” The estimate on that is $500,000 – $700,000, while a record sleeve for his 1964 album The Times They Are A-Changin’ is expected to bring $4,000 – $6,000.
Among the many other items of interest are Prince’s 1994 Blue Cloud electric guitar; Cobain’s rare self-portrait caricature drawing created during Nirvana’s 1992 Nevermind promo tour.
The estimate for the drawing, which was gifted the drawing to Jacque Chong, a photographer who worked with Cobain during Nirvana’s Nevermind album promotional tour in Singapore in 1992, is from $10,000 – $20,000.
Other items include Britney Spears’ handwritten private letters to her high school boyfriend; items from Elton John collaborator Bernie Taupin. John’s tangerine-orange polyester jumpsuit adorned with thousands of black and white sequins in a piano keyboard motif worn onstage in 1975 is estimated to garner $15,000 – $20,000.
If you’re interested in owning a piece of rock history, register to bid here.
