A guitar belonging to rock legend Jimi Hendrix sold for more than £60,000 at a London auction of his possessions on Thursday, as fans flocked to the first ever sale dedicated solely to the Purple Haze guitarist. Some money from the eagerly anticipated event, organised by an ex-flame of the iconic musician, went to Drugscope, an online library of information on drug abuse.
An anonymous bidder snapped up the guitar, an acoustic Epiphone Hendrix used to smooth out his take on Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower. The guitar, which Jimi’s former British girlfriend Kathy Etchingham said “lived by the bed”, was one of his favourites, and was originally purchased for £15 in a New York second-hand shop.
A stars and stripes shirt, with sleeves specially cropped so as not to interfere with the legendary guitarist's playing, fetched £18,400 at the packed Bonhams and Brooks auction. Necklaces once worn by the star sold for upwards of £1,200, while a customised Marshall super amplifier sold for £33,350, well over the estimated price. In fact, every item under the gavel, with the exception of an old stage from London’s Marquee Club where the Jimi Hendrix Experience played in 1967, sold either at or above the anticipated price tag.
Hendrix died in September 1970, aged 27, of a drug overdose and his former lover thinks more information might have saved his life. “The fact was he didn’t know what he was taking,” says Kathy. “Had he been informed about the effect barbiturates have when taken with alcohol he may not have taken so many.”
“His death was such a shock, and ever since I’ve been completely against the use of hard drugs,” says the now mother of two, who met Jimi when she was a 20-year-old hairdresser. The couple dated for three years, and shared a London flat during the period many believe to be his prime.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
