News, South East
More than 120 guitars, amps and pedals from legendary rock musician Jeff Beck’s career have been sold at auction for £8.7m, more than eight times the pre-sale estimate.
All the items sold at the auction in London on Wednesday generated £8,727,284, with bids received from 40 countries.
A 1954 “Oxblood” Gibson Les Paul guitar, which featured on the cover of the musician’s 1975 album Blow by Blow, was bought for £1,068,500.
All of the hammer price of the final four items, which included a guitar and artwork, was earmarked to benefit Folly Wildlife Rescue in Tunbridge Wells, a charity supported by Beck, his wife Sandra, and actor and close friend Johnny Depp.
The items, sold by auction house Christie’s, raised more than £125,000 for the Kent charity, which said it was “blown away by the bidding war”.
Mrs Beck said: “I am so happy that Jeff’s guitars have been so popular amongst his fans and friends.
“Thank you so much for your belief in Jeff’s legacy.”
A white Fender guitar was also bought for £1,008,000 at the auction, despite a pre-sale estimate of between £20,000-£30,000.
While a Jackson guitar signed by Tina Turner sold for more than 36 times its pre-sale estimate, receiving a winning bid of £441,000.
A pedalboard, which contained the arrangement used on Beck’s last tour in 2022, also sold for £126,000, with an estimate of £3,000-£5,000.
Beck was born in Wallington, then part of the county of Surrey, in 1944, and died at his home in Wadhurst, East Sussex, at the age of 78 in 2023.
He rose to fame as a member of The Yardbirds, a band which also featured Surrey guitarists Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, in the mid-Sixties.
Amelia Walker, Christie’s specialist head of private and iconic collections in London, said: “We are thrilled with the results of Jeff Beck’s incredible collection, which pay testament to the legacy of a genius – a globally-revered true rock legend.”
