A guitar associated with a landmark performance by Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus has sold at auction for $104,000, surpassing its high estimate by $96,000.
The pink acoustic guitar by Daisy Rock was signed by both of the singing stars on February 7, 2009.
The next night, they sang together at the 51st Grammy Awards in the Staples Center, Los Angeles, performing Swift’s song Fifteen.
Swift’s signature is clear and bold, adding value. Image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.
The guitar was listed for sale at Julien’s Music Icons auction on May 30th to 31st in New York.
If you think a pre-sale estimate of $6,000 to $8,000 looked good value, you’d be right.
An opening bid of $1,500 started a race that finished at $104,000.
It was the second most valuable item in the sale after a keyboard – styled as a grand piano – played by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith that realised $130,000, well within its $100,000 to $200,000 estimate range.
Other Swift items also did well, and everything connected to the 35-year-old singer, born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, exceeded its top estimate.
This glove was worn on stage in 2011 and went for just under $4,000. Image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.
A dress worn for a Bliss magazine photoshoot made $9,100 against an $8,000 top estimate. A lace glove from a 2011 made $3,900 against a $3,000 estimate.
The sale featured lots of items from older, male stars from the traditional rock canon that also did well: an Eddie Van Halen guitar made $78,000; a portrait of John Lennon by Stuart Sutcliffe realised $52,000.
But time and fashion and value in music collecting moves on just as it does in the pop scene itself, and Swift is now a world-historic artist with audience figures to match any writer or performer in music history.
Those looking for value in Taylor collecting should act swiftly.
