Richard Gere sells $900,000 guitar collection

Richard gere guitar collection

Richard gere guitar collection

International film-movie-star-actor Richard Gere has raised a cool $936,000 (£600,281) after auctioning off a much-coveted guitar collection that included a 1960 Gibson Kalamazoo Les Paul and a 1931 Martin D-28.

The bidding took place at Christies' New York auction house last Tuesday (11 October) and the 1960 Gibson (pictured above, left) unsurprisingly proved the star of the 106-lot collection, attracting a winning bid of $98,500 (£63,141) from a private buyer in the US.

A 1958 Gibson Kalamazoo Flying V (above, centre), which was formerly owned by Albert Lee also attracted some massive bids, finally coming in at $74,500 (£47,756), again, to a private buyer based in the US.

In addition, the C.F. Martin & Co. museum also made a couple of big acquisitions, winning the auctions on three of Gere's rare Martin acoustics, the most valuable of which, a 1931 D-28 (above, right), went for $62,500 (£40,064). The others, a 1901 00-42 Special and a 1944 000-28, went for $30,000 (£19,231) and $25,000 (£16,026), respectively.

Other mind-numbingly unattainable highlights included a 1960 Gibson ES-335, which sold for $47,500 (£30,449); a 1958 Les Paul, which made $37,500 (£24,038) and a 1954 Fender Strat, which raised $25,000 (£16,026).

Gere must be glad he's shifted those 100+ guitars as he's probably going to need the space for that massive pile of cash. Not that we're jealous. Oh no, not at all...

Matthew Parker

Matt is a freelance journalist who has spent the last decade interviewing musicians for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.