Elvis Presley’s acoustic guitar in the historic Memphis sessions that triggered the “big bang” of rock and roll was sold at auction for over a million dollars.
Auction space Gotta Have Rock and Roll said the value set a record for a piece of Elvis memorabilia, was less than the $2 million to $3 million auction space it had announced before the online auction began on July 22 and ended on Saturday.
The identity of the customer, who was the only user who offered for the guitar, has not been revealed. The sale was first reported through the celebrity news site TMZ and repeated through the auction space on his Instagram.
TMZ and other sites reported the so-called “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 greatest vital tools in the history of recorded music, the 1942 Martin D-18 guitar was purchased through O.K.’s Elvis. Houck’s piano shop on Union Avenue in 1954. Elvis decorated the guitar with steel sticky lyrics that spelled his name, but all that’s left is “ELVI”. He sold the guitar in 1956 after using it in his first recording sessions at Sam Phillips’ Sun Studio at 706 Union Ave., where he, electric guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black gave an exclusive touch to songs like “Blue Moon of Kentucky”. and “Mystery Train.”
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Prior to the auction, Elvis’ guitar belonged to Michael Malone of DMX Music, based in Seattle, a famous collector of rock tools and race cars. Malone bought the guitar at a Christie’s auction in London in 1993 for $151,700.
Elvis Presley’s historic Sun Sessions guitar auctioned with an initial bid of $1.2 million