Acquiring an instrument or manuscript touched by rock ’n’ roll royalty can be a deeply personal and nostalgic experience

The “Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own” exhibition at Sotheby’s London in 2023. Photograph: Sotheby’s

 

Sotheby’s has a long history of selling rock and pop memorabilia. In 1984, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono consigned more than 100 items from the singer’s estate to the auction house, including cars, juke boxes, jewelry and furnishings from the couple’s homes. Property from the estate of Buddy Holly, including his Gibson acoustic guitar, was auctioned across two sales at Sotheby’s New York in 1990. And more recently, in 2023, Sotheby’s London held the blockbusting “Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own,” which totaled an impressive £40m (US$50.4m) and drew queues of more than 140,000 visitors to its month-long exhibition.

The enthusiasm is easy to understand. High-profile pop culture auctions offer fans the opportunity to acquire objects connected with their entertainment idols on a personal, often nostalgic level. “It’s like when you were a young child in the back seat of your parents’ car and you heard a song,” says Craig Inciardi, pop culture consultant at Sotheby’s New York and one of the founding curators of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “You know what that means to you.”

At Sotheby’s, the popular culture category is as wide-ranging as the name would suggest, spanning music, film, television, comics and celebrity-connected collectibles. Even within the music division, lots range in genre and time period represented, as well as objects on offer.

Freddie Mercury’s Yamaha Grand Piano, on view at Sotheby’s Bond Street galleries in London during “Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own” in September 2023. Photograph: Sotheby’s

 

Musical instruments, unsurprisingly, are often among the highest-valued items. These range from pianos used in the composition of beloved songs or albums, such as Freddie Mercury’s Yamaha Grand, on which he wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody,” to guitars played on tour or at specific shows, and even instruments kept prized but untouched by their original owners. 

Sometimes these collectibles will enjoy a similar fate once purchased, but this is dependent on the buyer—many do continue to play them as they were intended. “Some collectors keep the musical instruments stored in their cases or have Plexiglass cases made for them,” says Inciardi. “I’ve also seen people put an important guitar over the fireplace and display it as an objet d’art.” Portrait photography or original paintings used in album art can be framed and hung pride of place on the wall or cherished privately in studios, studies, even bedrooms.

Preliminary album artwork illustration by Paul Whitehead for “Nursery Cryme” by Genesis, which will be auctioned during the upcoming Grails at Sotheby’s New York. Photograph: Sotheby’s

 

Unlike in other auction categories, the condition of music memorabilia is not as pivotal as it would be for an old master painting or a piece of high jewelry, for example. “For a guitar from a famous musician, you’d want to see that it had a good amount of wear,” says Inciardi. “At the same time, you want to make sure that it’s stable enough that it’s not falling apart.” 

Manuscripts sometimes come in at a more accessible price point, giving fans the chance to hold handwritten lyrics, chord progressions or correspondence that their idols once pored over. “Another big category is clothing,” says Inciardi. “Clothing worn on stage, on an album cover or in an iconic photo helps us to create and define the identity of that artist.”

The winning bidder celebrates after placing the final bid on Freddie Mercury’s arrow stage jacket during the “Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own” Evening Sale. Photograph: Sotheby’s

 

New or established collectors keen to acquire a piece of rock and roll history will have ample opportunity at Sotheby’s New York this fall, during the inaugural Grails, a new biannual sale billed as “the ultimate celebration of collectibles and fan culture.” Running September 22 to October 28, with the central Grails Week timed to coincide with New York Comic Con, it will combine auctions, exhibitions and entertainment across the span of contemporary culture.

Top billing at Grails’ headline Rock and Pop sale—opening for bidding on September 24— goes to Eddie Van Halen’s Kramer electric guitar. Featuring his trademark black and white stripes, it is based on Van Halen’s modified “Frankenstein” instrument. “It’s an extraordinarily important, and still functional, guitar, meticulously documented,” says Inciardi. “These iconic Van Halen guitars, they’re like fingerprints. There are no two exactly the same.”

Eddie Van Halen’s Iconic Kramer Electric, based on his original “Frankenstein” guitar, which will be auctioned during the upcoming Grails at Sotheby’s New York. Photograph: Sotheby’s

 

The handwritten lyrics of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 title album track “Born to Run” is likely to be another star lot of the sale. “Springsteen started working on that album in 1974 and rewrote and revised the song dozens and dozens and dozens of times, so to have a page of the song during its early development is just absolutely amazing,” Inciardi says. 

Also up for grabs are two precious pieces of original artwork: one for the 1971 Genesis album, “Nursery Cryme,” a rare collectible from the period when both Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel were in the band; another for The Rolling Stones’ 1974 album, “It’s Only Rock ’n Roll.” That same title could be applied to music memorabilia as a whole, of course, but you can’t put a price on fandom. As Inciardi sums it up: “You have to collect what you love.” 

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