Two of rock and roll’s most iconic guitars — one belonging to David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and the other to the late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead — were sold for astronomical sums earlier this week.

The Jim Irsay Collection: Hall of Fame Auction, held at Christie's in New York City, smashed multiple records in music memorabilia, with all 44 lots fetching a combined $84 million.

Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster — the famed ‘Black Strat’, used on Pink Floyd classics such as Comfortably Numb and Shine On You Crazy Diamond — became the most expensive guitar ever sold, fetching $14,550,000. Garcia’s legendary ‘Tiger’ guitar followed close behind, selling for $11,560,000.

Both instruments were among the centrepieces of the collection assembled by the late Jim Irsay, the longtime owner of the American football team, Indianapolis Colts, who spent decades acquiring historically significant instruments and rock music relics.

Kurt Cobain’s 1969 Fender Mustang, another jewel in Irsay’s collection and once used in the music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit, was sold for $6.91 million. This guitar had previously set the auction record in 2022, surpassing the $3.975 million benchmark established in 2019 by David Gilmour’s famed Stratocaster.

Jim Irsay had purchased Gilmour’s instrument during a 2019 charity auction of the guitarist’s collection, later adding it to the travelling exhibits of the Jim Irsay Collection.

The latest Christie’s auction has now shifted the record once again, returning the title to Gilmour’s instrument. Jerry Garcia’s ‘Tiger’ guitar had passed through private collectors before eventually becoming part of the same collection.

The two guitars also share another distinction: both were heavily modified instruments that evolved alongside the musicians who played them. Gilmour’s ‘Black Strat’ began life as a standard 1969 Fender Stratocaster, but was repeatedly altered over the years, with different pickups, necks and hardware swapped in and out to shape the tone heard on classic Pink Floyd recordings.

Garcia’s ‘Tiger’ was a custom instrument built in 1979 by Doug Irwin and outfitted with complex onboard electronics, including multiple pickups, coil taps, a built-in preamp and an effects loop that allowed Garcia to integrate pedals directly through the guitar.

Beyond the prices achieved, the auction also reflected a guiding principle often articulated by Irsay: that historically significant instruments should be played and experienced rather than preserved as untouchable artefacts inside glass cases.

The idea was echoed almost immediately after the sale when Derek Trucks played Garcia’s Tiger during a show by the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, giving audiences a rare chance to hear the legendary instrument live once again.

Several other historically significant instruments also fetched multimillion-dollar sums during the sale. Eric Clapton’s psychedelic-painted Gibson SG, widely known as ‘The Fool’, brought in about $3 million, while his 1939 Martin 000-42 acoustic guitar — famously used during his appearance on MTV Unplugged — sold for roughly $4.1 million.

Other notable memorabilia in the sale included a yellow Cloud electric guitar once owned by Prince, a handwritten draft of the lyrics to Blowin' in the Wind by Bob Dylan, and a Martin acoustic guitar played by Johnny Cash.

The auction also featured Elvis Presley’s 1976 Bicentennial Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a 1964 Rickenbacker guitar used by The Beatles, reflecting the wide musical range represented in the Jim Irsay Collection, which spans rock, folk and country history.