Jimi Hendrix at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1969
Photo: Getty Images, Walter Iooss Jr. All rights reserved.
That Jimi Hendrix has legendary status in rock history is undisputed. Therefore, the guitarist’s used equipment is in great demand among collectors. Now, a 1961 Epiphone Wilshire guitar from his estate has sold at auction for $1.25 million.
Supposedly, Hendrix bought the good piece in 1963 – around the time he was playing his first gigs with his band The King Kasuals. According to the tabloid magazine “TMZ”, the Epiphone has been missing since 2008. But now the auction house “Moments in Time” was able to find them and put them up for auction.
Hendrix guitars are coveted at auction
The Epiphone isn’t Jimi Hendrix’s first guitar to sell for a hefty sum. In 2016, one of the virtuoso’s instruments was auctioned for £200,000. Hendrix himself paid just 25 US dollars for the guitar, which was already used at the time. A rare unbranded Japanese electric guitar once owned by Hendrix sold for £171,000 at auction in 2020.
In general, memorabilia from deceased rock musicians seem to be the big sellers at the auction houses. So, in May 2023, someone bought a battered black Fender Stratocaster owned by Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain for a pretty penny.