Nirvana: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” guitar and Curt Cobain artifacts up for auction

April 13, 2022

Robert

Items by Curt Cobain, including the Fender Mustang guitar he used in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video, the 1965 Dodge Dart 170, and several of his own works of art, are being auctioned off for the first time by Julien’s Auctions .

The electric guitar used in the 1969 Fender Mustang’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video for left-handers with a blue finish, which, according to the auction house, “changed the music and the world” has a starting price of $ 600,000- $ 800,000.

The guitar is on display at Seattle’s Experience Music Project, now called the MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture, for the past 12 years and was also photographed and selected for The Guitar Collection, the collectible book of the top 150 guitars of all time. .

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the Fender Mustang guitar and selected items will be donated to the Kicking The Stigma campaign, an initiative of the Indianapolis Colts team and its owner, Jim Ersay, to raise awareness about mental health disorders and related stigma. very often with these diseases.

oh yes i love CURT cobain pic.twitter.com/kVSUDPx7Uy

– rona (@arcticstunts) October 27, 2020

The auction also sells Cobain’s only known surviving car, the 1965 4-door sedan Dodge Dart 170. The car with the derogatory “Baby Blue” is estimated to sell for $ 400,000 to $ 600,000. The late singer Kim’s sister has owned the vehicle for the past 28 years, which she bought from Cobain’s husband Courtney Love, after the death of her brother.

Other items in the collection include the artist’s artwork on the skateboard deck with the 1985 Iron Maiden mascot “Eddie” and a sketch by Michael Jackson signed by Curt Cobain.

“Curt Cobain has been such a great artistic and cultural force for the past 30 years, and this auction celebrates Nirvana’s indelible contribution to rock music and pop culture,” said Jim Esrey.

Prior to the auction, the items will be available for display at Julien’s Auctions Gallery in Beverly Hills from April 11 to April 15, at the Hard Rock Cafe at Piccadilly Circus in London from April 28 to May 3 and at Hard Rock Café in Times Square, New York on May 16-20.