If you ever wondered how much people are willing to pay for a piece of rock history, here’s your answer. A guitar Kirk Hammett used onstage during Black Sabbath’s last ever concert just sold at auction for an eye-popping $76,800, blowing past every expectation.
The Metallica guitarist had 150 of his personal instruments up for grabs at Julien’s Auctions during their annual Played, Worn and Torn sale. While plenty of his gear drew attention, the standout was the silver Gibson SG he brought out during Ozzy Osbourne’s final show with Black Sabbath in Birmingham back in July. The auction house originally thought it might go for somewhere between four and six grand. Instead, bidders took it to more than twelve times that.
What makes the whole thing even crazier is that Hammett’s SG wasn’t even the priciest guitar in his batch. A 1985 Gibson Custom Shop Michael Schenker Flying V sold for a massive $160,000, and his 1996 ESP Wavecaster with a clear body pulled in $89,600.
The auction itself featured big-name memorabilia from legends like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan. Still, the highest-selling item came from Rolling Stones icon Keith Richards. His 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard, signed by Richards himself, went for a huge $192,000.
While all this was happening, Hammett’s bandmate Lars Ulrich recently looked back on the Back to the Beginning show, remembering how the musicians there felt watching Black Sabbath close out an era. Talking to Howard Stern, he explained the energy in the room.
He told Stern, “All the rest of us were just losing our f minds and then they started playing War Pigs with the lights on and the show and air raid sirens and then we were obviously, as fans – and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn here or being disrespectful – as fans I think there was a sense from all the other musicians and friends of Black Sabbath who were there …”
Ulrich didn’t sugarcoat the nerves everyone felt going in. He continued, “We were hoping for the best. We wanted it to be the best. We wanted it to be a grand slam, but we didn’t know, because ultimately none of us knew what kind of shape they were in …”
Then came the moment that put everyone at ease. “Then Ozzy came in singing and sounded great, hit all the notes and the lyrics and the timings and everybody was like: ‘This is gonna be fine, they’re gonna f* kill it,’” he concluded.
Rock history doesn’t go cheap, and based on this auction, it’s only getting more valuable.
