The Grammy Awards may have been postponed from January 31 until April 3, but a “Grammy Week” benefit auction for the Recording Academy’s MusiCares charity went ahead as originally scheduled this past Sunday, January 30.
Among the noteworthy items that brought in big bucks at the sale were instruments signed by Keith Richards, Paul McCartney and the late Tom Petty, as well as an autographed print of a painting that Joni Mitchell did of Jimi Hendrix.
An ebony Gibson ES-335 electric guitar autographed by Richards along with an NFT featuring a digital video of the Rolling Stones legend signing the instrument fetched $57,600.
McCartney donated a signed Hofner B-Bass Hi Series violin bass guitar that brought in $38,400.
A Gibson ES-355 Bigsby VOS electric/acoustic guitar that Petty signed at the 2017 gala honoring him as MusiCares Person of the Year, along with a copy of the limited-edition Ultra Deluxe version of Tom’s Wildflowers & All the Rest box set, sold for $35,200.
The signed and framed proof print of Mitchell’s oil painting of Hendrix was auctioned for $22,400.
Other memorabilia sold at the auction included guitars signed by Metallica‘s James Hetfield, Slash, Jeff Beck, Depeche Mode and The Go-Go’s, and other items that belonged to or were associated with Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, U2‘s Bono, KISS‘ Gene Simmons, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee and the late Chris Cornell.
The collectibles that brought in the most money were seven custom-made suits worn by BTS during the K-pop superstars’ first Grammy ceremony appearance, which sold for a whopping $160,000.
The 2022 MusiCares Charity Auction was hosted by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills. Visit JuliensLive.com for full results of the sale.
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