A pink Daisy Rock acoustic guitar signed by Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards has sold for $104,000 at auction.
Estimated to fetch a high of $96,000, Julien’s Auctions perhaps slightly underestimated the size of the Swiftie fanbase, as it smashed that target and went comfortably into a six-figure sum.
The two artists left their mark on the guitar on February 7, 2009, the day before the pair’s duet take of Swift’s Fifteen at the Grammys.
The high sales figure was achieved despite the fact that Swift played a different guitar – a Taylor K65ce Koa 12-String – on the night.
It was an evening that also saw Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl join forces on I Saw Her Standing There, and John Mayer, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Keith Urban unite for a tribute to Bo Diddley, who had died the previous June.
Swift was just 19 at the time of the performance and would claim her first Grammy wins the following year, including Album of the Year for Fearless.
A total of 22 bids came in for the guitar, which saw its tentative estimate of $6,000–$8,000 surpassed by bid nine during the auction on May 31.
The lot became the second most valuable of Julien’s latest Music Icons collection, missing out on the top spot thanks to a Steven Tyler’s Dream On grand piano racking up a $130,000 sale.
Elsewhere, a score of notable six-strings also went under the hammer. A Charvel Art Series electric guitar, played on stage by Eddie Van Halen, doubled its estimate as it went for $78,000. Another Eddie axe, a Fender custom Frankenstein Stratocaster, sold for $45,500.
Several items related to Kurt Cobain were also listed – including, bizarrely, a portion of a Melvins tour van that featured a mural done by Cobain. It sold for $26,000. Considering the two most expensive guitars ever sold at auction belonged to Cobain, it is no surprise.
Notably, however, Cobain’s 1989 Takamine acoustic remains unsold after its reserve wasn't reached. It was used during a recording session in November 1991 in Hilversum, Netherlands in the build-up to Nirvana's show at the Paradiso later that night.
The guitar was estimated to reach $300,000–$500,000, with a starting bid of $75,000.
In recent auction news, groundbreaking filmmaker David Lynch's guitars are currently up for auction – and if you're in the market for an off-kilter guitar, there's also a custom-built five-necked guitar up for grabs.
