9 hours ago
3
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, and U2‘s Adam Clayton are each unloading a wealth of gear as part of Julien’s “Played, Worn, & Torn” charity auction, set for November 20th and 21st at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum at The Historic Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.
A portion of the proceeds from the Clayton, Hammett, and Lee collections will benefit MusiCares, with additional pieces from the auction supporting causes including Teenage Cancer America, Gibson Gives, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The “Kirk Hammett Collection” features over 150 guitars, awards, and stage-played instruments. Highlights include:
- A 1985 Gibson Custom Michael Schenker Flying V, photo-matched from Metallica’s 2008 Tulsa concert, still bearing splatters of birthday shaving cream (estimate $10,000-15,000)
- “Lux Aeterna” Black Metal electric guitar used in the music video for said track, modeled after ESP’s KH-2 design — one of Hammett’s choice axes (estimate $8,000-12,000)
- Stage-played 1996 ESP Wavecaster electric guitar custom-built from clear Lucite and filled with colored liquid, used by Hammett during Metallica’s Load and Reload tours in 1996-1997, along with original ESP case with fluid refill bottles (estimate $8,000-10,000)
- “Sleepwalk My Life Away” Arctic Metal guitar featuring original artwork by Kirk (estimate $6,000-8,000)
As for Tommy Lee, the Mötley Crüe drummer has offered up a plethora of memorabilia and some instruments, most notably:
- The infamous black safe that was once stolen from Lee’s Malibu home and was linked to the theft of Lee and Pamela Anderson’s private tape in 1995, signed and inscribed by Lee, “This is the unsafe that ruined my life! Tommy Lee.” (estimate $5,000-7,000)
- 1995 Gucci jacket worn by Lee in London with Pamela Anderson in 1995 (estimate $800-1,200)
- Signed “Multi-Platinum” Dr. Feelgood sales award commemorating 5 million-plus copies sold of Mötley Crüe’s 1989 album (estimate $1,000-2,000)
- “CRUE” silver bracelet — a wide, heavy sterling silver curb-link ID bracelet featuring a polished rectangular plaque with applied Old English letters spelling “CRUE” (estimate $800-1,200)
- Signed Schecter Tommy Lee electric baritone guitar played by Lee as a solo artist and seen in performances and promotional images, currently non-functional (estimate: $2,000-4,000)
Meanwhile, U2 bassist Adam Clayton’s collection includes numerous prized bass guitars, ranging in estimates from $20,000 to $60,000. He is also selling a collection of Fender Jazz Basses ranging from 1960s to 1970s models.
Other auction highlights includes artifacts associated with the late Ace Frehley, Keith Richards, The Beatles, John Coltrane, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, as well as the Gibson Gives Guitar Collection headlined by a rare, custom-built Gibson CEO4, designed by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian and played on stage and signed by Hammett during the historic “Back to the Beginning” concert.
“Our annual Played, Worn & Torn auction at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Downtown Nashville brings together some of the most extraordinary artist collections ever presented — including incredible artists such as Adam Clayton, Kirk Hammett, Tommy Lee and beyond,” said Martin Nolan, co-founder and executive director of Julien’s Auctions (via a press release). “These instruments and artifacts coming directly from the artists themselves represent the soul of music history.”
Bidding is live and ongoing via Julien’s Auctions website ahead of the live auction on November 20th and 21st in Nashville. Check out a teaser video and images of a few of the notable auction artifacts below.
English (US) · 