Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged guitar will be auctioned next month, and it’s reportedly valued at $1,000,000.
The Nirvana singer played the 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric guitar during his legendary performance on the show. It will be auctioned at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, on June 19 with its original hard-shell case, decorated by Cobain.
The case includes a flyer for Poison Idea’s album Feel the Darkness, three baggage claim ticket stubs, and an Alaska Airlines sticker. The case also contains Cobain’s half-used pack of guitar strings, three guitar picks, and a suede “stash” bag, according to The Guardian.
Julien’s Auctions previously sold Cobain’s cardigan from the performance for $344,000.
The guitar is the source of a lot of controversy, with Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain having been locked in a protracted legal battle for it. After Frances Bean split with her ex-husband, Isaiah Silva, in 2016, Silva kept the guitar, claiming it was given to him as a wedding present.
In 2018, a judge granted Silva the guitar in the divorce settlement. Silva subsequently filed a lawsuit accusing Love and Lutfi of attempting to kill him to get the guitar back. Come 2019, Love demanded that Silva should be given a psychiatric evaluation as part of the lawsuit, and said that he should not get to keep the guitar. Julien’s are keeping the name of the seller anonymous.