Jimi Hendrix's electric guitar from the 60s sells for $216,000 at an auction

The music icon started playing the guitar after he was discharged from the US Army in 1962

By PTI

Published: Mon 10 Aug 2020, 6:40 PM

Last updated: Mon 10 Aug 2020, 8:47 PM

Music icon Jimi Hendrix's Japanese sunburst electric guitar from the early 1960s, when he was a R&B sideman and fledgling rocker in New York City, has been sold for $216,000 at an auction. According to Rolling Stone magazine, the guitar made nearly four times more than its pre-auction estimate of $50,000.

Hendrix started playing the electric guitar after he was discharged from the US. Army in 1962.

The late musician remained in possession of the guitar for almost four years.

"This particular guitar sheds light on some of the earliest playing by Jimi Hendrix and is unprecedented as it relates to its historical value. Never before have we acquired a guitar of this magnitude partnered with particularly thorough provenance and value," Dame Brigitte Kruse of GWS Auctions said in a statement.

Other notable items sold during GWS Auctions' Artifacts of Hollywood & Music event included a 14K gold ring owned by Elvis Presley ($22,500), a pair of Prince's custom-made purple boots ($13,000) and one of Michael Jackson's sequined black jackets ($20,000).