Sotheby’s hammered down on an Epiphone Les Paul guitar owned by Noel Gallagher on September 12, with the price at £132,000.
Bidding described as “strong and competitive” on the guitar was extended as the price went well above its £60,000 to £80,000 estimate.
The guitar is one most Oasis fans will recognise. It sits on a stand on the cover of Supersonic, Oasis’ defining debut single. The sound too was key to the early success of the band.
Of course, something happened between Sotheby’s listing the guitar as one of the top items in their first Pop Culture sale and the auction opening.
Noel Gallagher playing the £132,000 Les Paul in the Supersonic video for a then relatively unknown band.
The reunion of the Gallagher brothers no doubt helped push the price to nearly double the low estimate.
A Gallagher guitar could be found online as recently as 2015 with a listing of just over £1,000.
In November, another Les Paul owned and played by Noel Gallagher will sell with a £200,000 to £400,000 estimate.
Sotheby’s also sold two more Gallagher guitars, an Epiphone EA-250 electric guitar that made £48,000 (from a £20,000 to £30,000 estimate), and a Gibson Flying V previously owned by Johnny Marr and played by Gallagher on Oasis’s 1994 track Cigarettes and Alcohol. That realised £36,000.
Gallagher himself has a large collection of instruments and owns several famous guitars gifted to him by Marr and Paul Weller. If he ever decides to cash them in he can look forward to quite a return on this evidence.
This sale certainly confirms Oasis can be considered a top tier act for collectors – definitely in the UK, maybe less so in the US.
Sotheby’s head of Popular Culture, Katherine Schofield, said: “It has been brilliant to offer these important Oasis guitars from the beginning of the Brit Pop era in our inaugural Pop Culture sale at Sotheby’s.
“It’s a fitting tribute to celebrate, not only the 30th Anniversary of Definitely Maybe, but also the recent announcement of the long-awaited Oasis reunion.
“It was thrilling to see such strong and competitive bidding for these culturally significant guitars, previously used by Noel Gallagher.”
Also sold in the sale was a piano from Abbey Road (in the post-Beatles era) for £192,000. A Beatles LP, one of the best ever Yesterday and Today “Butcher Sleeves”, made £48,000, an extremely strong price for a single vinyl album.
