Christie’s Set to Sell Ringo’s Drumset, Kurt Cobain’s Guitar in $30 M. Sale

Select pieces from Jim Irsay’s famed collection of film, music and sports memorabilia, as well as Americas, will go on display this week ahead of its sale at Christie’s in Los Angeles (March).

A 10-minute drive from the Beverly Hills hotel, the billionaire owner of the Indianapolis Colts died of cardiac arrest last May at the age of 65. Irsay inherited the HVAC fortune and Colts franchise he inherited from his father and acquired hundreds of items representing historical moments and iconic figures in American pop culture, from Jack Kerouac to Kurt Cobain to Jackie Robinson.

“Jim Irsay has a passion for all things that define the American experience,” said Kerry Keane, the musical instrument expert who led the sales inquiry. These range from Ringo Starr’s iconic drum head from The Beatles’ historic debut The Ed Sullivan Show Sly Stallone’s 1964 handwritten script notebook worth $1 million Loki. Irsay bought it five years ago at Julien’s for $16,000; Christie’s valued it at around $200,000.

One of the most famous works in film history for sale is “Wilson,” the anthropomorphic volleyball that accompanied Tom Hanks in Ron Howard’s film castaway (Estimated selling price is $60,000 to $80,000).

The memorabilia market has exploded in the past five to 10 years, in part because of the emergence of new auction companies that work directly with prop companies, said independent appraiser Simeon Lipman. The market reached a new high in 2024 when Heritage Auctions sold a pair of Judy Garland’s ruby ​​slippers. The Wizard of Oz Valued at $32.5 million, although the legend grew after these were stolen in 2005 and recovered more than a decade later. As with any market, more money means more scammers, and fakes abound—last fall, Sotheby’s canceled two memorabilia sales over concerns about authenticity.

In total, Christie’s is selling about 350 items from Irsay’s collection, about 200 of which are guitars. “What’s more American than the guitar?” Keane asked. Sale options are still being finalized, but the current total valuation is approximately $30 million.

In 2022, Guitar.com magazine declared Irsay’s guitar collection “the greatest on earth.” As a player, Keane said, he is assembling an encyclopedic selection representing nearly 200 years of American guitar making. Unusually, he straddles two different categories of guitar collectors: those who specialize in rare instruments, and those who buy performance-related instruments. Irsay owns guitars played by Prince, David Gilmour, John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin, among others. One highlight is Jerry Garcia’s longest-playing guitar, called the “Tiger,” which was custom-built for him by luthier Doug Irwin and is estimated to be worth $1 million. Notably, Garcia played the tune during their final performance with the Grateful Dead at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 9, 1995, one month before his death. “It’s like Mozart’s piano,” Lipman said.

Irsay didn’t just focus on the guitar; There’s also a Miles Davis trumpet, an Elton John piano, a John Coltrane saxophone, and Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to “Hey Jude” worth an estimated $600,000. Lippman pointed to a rare poster for the February 3, 1959 Winter Party concert, which featured Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson when their plane crashed, causing damage estimated at $300,000. The event was immortalized in Don McLean’s song “American Pie” as “the day the music died.”

Irsay’s passion for collecting American pop culture extends to literature and sports, but interestingly not football. They include the Secretariat saddle used by the famous horse when he won the Triple Crown in 1973, from the collection of winning jockey Ron Turcotte, estimated at $1.5 million, and Robinson’s 1953 race bat, estimated at $250,000. Those who enjoy historical books and manuscripts will be excited by Kerouac’s 120-foot-long stream-of-consciousness typescript scroll on the roadIt is estimated to be worth $2.5 million and was produced in large quantities while he was high on amphetamines.

Irsay toured his collection in 10 U.S. cities between 2021 and 2024, but he never expressed interest in selling, even “even if someone offered me $1 billion,” he told us Bloomberg News 2022. In fact, he was still actively buying at that time. He paid $4.6 million at Julien’s for the 1966 Fender Mustang that Cobain played in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video in 1991, which Christie’s valued at $2.5 million. He also bought Muhammad Ali’s 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” championship belt against George Foreman for $6.2 million at Heritage Auctions. Ali’s belt has been removed from Christie’s auction listings, perhaps indicating there may be some uncertainty about the belt’s authenticity. Another item noticeably missing from the auction listing is the electric guitar Bob Dylan allegedly played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, as depicted in the film Completely unknown. Irsay bought it at Christie’s in 2013 for just under $1 million. The guitar was put up for auction after the seller settled a legal dispute with Dylan, who claimed it was not the guitar he played in Newport.

“This incident touches history. That is [Irsay] “We’re very discerning,” says Lippman. “It’s amazing that such a great material can come to market all at once.”