“Gilmour’s Strat went for four million — and 67 nations tuned in to that auction”: The man with the $1billion guitar collection

Jim Irsay's guitar collection was renowned as the most valuable in the world.

The American billionaire entrepreneur, who died on 21 May aged 65, was CEO of NFL club Indianapolis Colts and used his fortune to amass an astonishing array of famous instruments.

Included in The Jim Irsay Collection are are David Gilmour’s Black Fender Stratocaster, Bob Dylan’s Strat as featured in his controversial performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Kurt Cobain’s Fender Mustang used to record Smells Like Teen Spirit, and Eric Clapton’s ‘The Fool’ SG, which Clapton played during his tenure with Cream, during which he developed his legendary ‘woman’ tone.

Clapton’s SG was purchased by Irsay at auction for more than $1m.

The Gilmour Strat and Cobain’s Mustang are now the second and third most expensive guitars ever sold at auction – behind only the Martin D-18E that Cobain used in Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance in 1993.

Irsay also performed with his own band, which he described as “a travelling museum of rock music.”

Among the guest stars who performed alongside him in The Jim Irsay Band were ZZ Top legend Billy Gibbons and blues icon Buddy Guy.

In 2023, Irsay talked about his incredible collection.

“I’ve put this together for 25 years, with blood, sweat and tears,” he said.

“The guitars keep breaking records. Gilmour’s Strat went for four million and 67 nations tuned in to that auction… Everything keeps going really up in value, because they’ve been owned for more than 20 years.”

Irsay also revealed that he had declined a bid in excess of $1billion for his guitar collection.

“I was offered by a middle east element – kind of like what’s been going on in golf a little bit – 1.15 billion dollars for the collection,” he said. “They wanted to move it to Dubai and they wanted it in totality.”