Kurt Cobain MTV Unplugged in New York guitar sells for $6m

The guitar used by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain during the band’s famous MTV Unplugged in New York concert has sold for more than $6m (£4.8m) at auction.

The 1959 Martin D-18E guitar featured in the grunge group’s performance in November 1993, just five months before Cobain’s death aged 27.

There was huge international interest in the guitar in the weeks leading up to the sale and organiser Julien’s Auctions opened the bidding at a million dollars.

The winning bid of $6.01m came from Australian businessman Peter Freedman, owner of Rode Microphones, who bid in person in Beverly Hills, seeing off fierce competition globally. The sale set five world records, including most expensive guitar and most expensive piece of memorabilia.

‘It’s a big deal,’ Freedman told the PA news agency. ‘I didn’t even buy it for me. I paid for it but I’m going to use it to highlight the plight of artists worldwide by touring it around and then I’m going to sell it and use the dough for that as well later.’

The guitar was the seventh of only 302 D-18Es built by Martin and was customised by Cobain, who added a Bartolini pickup to the soundhole. The storage compartment contained Cobain’s half-used pack of guitar strings, picks and a suede ‘stash bag’. In addition, it came with the original hard-shell case decorated with a flyer from the punk rock band Poison Idea’s 1990 album Feel The Darkness.