A guitar smashed by Kurt Cobain sold for $596,900 (£480,000) at an auction over the weekend.
During an auction held at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York on Saturday, a black Fender Stratocaster that was once smashed by the late Nirvana frontman sold for $596,900, significantly more than the estimated price of $60,000-$80,000 (£48,000-£64,000).
The guitar was destroyed as Nirvana were working on their album Nevermind in the early 1990s. It has been reconstructed but is no longer playable.
Kody Frederick of Julien’s Auctions told AFP of the piece, “The man was angry, and you could feel that on stage. And you would feel that by the way he would treat his instruments.”
The broken instrument has been signed by all three band members – Kurt, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl – in a silver marker. Kurt signed the instrument “Kurdt Kobain”.
It also featured an inscription from Kurt to his musical collaborator Mark Lanegan, who died last year. According to the auction house, Kurt gave the guitar to Mark during the North American leg of Nirvana’s Nevermind tour in 1992.
The singer died by suicide in 1994.
The identity of the buyer was not revealed.