A guitar owned and played by Rolling Stone Brian Jones has been auctioned for $150,000 at a sale in Dallas, Texas.
The instrument was sold by Heritage Auctions in their sale of the Ali Zayeri collection yesterday, December 4.
The guitar was a Harmony Stratophone “Mars” H46 model made in around 1960 and is a well-known Jones instrument described as his first proper guitar.
It was bought relatively cheaply by Jones with the help of friend Richard Hattrell. Jones played it in the band’s first recording session, which failed to secure them a deal, and then in the recordings for their first single, Come On.
It was used extensively live, including at a show at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond that was photographed by Dezo Hoffman.
Jones, at the right, holds his bargain, but treasured, first electric at a recording session. He acquired the Harmony in 1962 in London. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
Before the sale, Charles Epting, of Heritage told Guitar World: “Brian Jones’s humble Harmony Stratotone stands as one of the most important instruments in rock and roll history.
“It was the electric guitar he played on the band’s earliest demos and at their early club gigs, and the very one heard on the band’s debut single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s Come On, which introduced The Stones to the world.
“Perhaps even more importantly, this was the guitar Jones used to teach a young Keith Richards, helping shape the partnership that would define the band’s sound for decades.”
It easily passed its opening bid of $100,000, but didn’t make the top estimate of $400,000.
In November, a 1960-made Gibson Les Paul played by Keith Richards in 2007 realised $192,000 at a Julien’s Auctions sale.
Mr Zayari’s collection (he’s a London-based fan of the group) was expected to bring in over $1.3 million in total.
Among the nearly 200 items sold in Dallas were two stage-worn psychedelic jackets from 1967 that each made over $40,000; a poster for an “all-night rave” at Alexandra Palace in north London that sold for over $17,000; and autographs of Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, John Lennon and Yoko Ono collected at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus show that realised $12,500.
