A guitar that Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett played on at Black Sabbath‘s final gig has sold for a massive amount of money – find out more below.
On July 5, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne performed their final gigs ever, dubbed Back To The Beginning, in Birmingham. The show was a star-studded affair that featured the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice In Chains, Gojira, Anthrax, Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, Guns N’ Roses, KoRn, Tool, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and the surviving members of Soundgarden and many others.
During Metallica’s performance, Kirk Hammett brandished silver Gibson SG, notably on their cover of Sabbath’s ‘Hole In The Sky’. Following the gig, the axe was signed by Hammett. The guitar was later listed for sale via Julien’s Auctions as part of its annual Played, Worn & Torn auction, which featured over 800 guitars and rare pieces of music memorabilia.
The Gibson SG has since been sold at auction for a whopping $76,800, well over 12 times its original $4000-$6000 estimate – find out more here.
In total, 150 models from Hammett were put on sale. Besides the Gibson SG, the highest grossing Hammett-played axes were the 1985 Gibson Custom Shop Michael Schenker Flying V, which sold for a huge $160,000, a 1996 ESP Wavecaster ($89,600) with a clear body, and his Mamma Said 1990s ESP Custom Shop M2 ($32,000).
Just over two weeks after the Back To The Beginning gig, Ozzy Osbourne passed away on July 22 at the age of 76, just over two weeks after he played his last ever show as the frontman of Black Sabbath at a concert at Villa Park in Birmingham.
He was laid to rest in the grounds of his UK mansion during a private ceremony that was attended by Elton John, members of Metallica and more, and his cortege had previously travelled through his home city of Birmingham in a procession attended by thousands of fans.
Ozzy Osbourne at ‘Back To The Beginning’. CREDIT: Ross Halfin
In other news, the Osbourne family recently revealed that both Donald Trump and King Charles reached out to them after Ozzy’s death in July.
They also revealed that Ozzy was secretly hospitalised just two weeks before his final concert. While he struggled with a number of medical conditions over the years – including Parkinson’s Disease – Jack shared that “things started getting worse” in the first week of December 2024, when Ozzy “took a little fall”.
In September, Sharon thanked fans for their “overwhelming love and support” and said she was “still finding my footing” following her husband’s passing. Jack had previously shared a “personal note” about his father in a video on his YouTube channel, while Kelly explained how she had found her “smile again” amid the “sadness and grief”.
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