Kurt Cobain 'MTV Unplugged' guitar sells for $6 million

The guitar used by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain during the band's famous MTV Unplugged in New York concert has sold for more than $6m at auction.

The 1959 Martin D-18E featured in the grunge group's performance in November 1993, five months before Cobain's death aged 27. The guitar was the seventh of only 302 D-18Es built by Martin and was customised by Cobain, who added a Bartolini pickup to the soundhole.

Cobain played the guitar in the band's rare acoustic performance and subsequent live album and it was sold to Australian Peter Freedman, owner of Røde Microphones, at the Music Icons event run by Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California.

The guitar also came with its original hard-shell case that Cobain had adorned with a flyer for the band Poison Idea's 1990 album Feel the Darkness. Inside the case is a half-used pack of Martin guitar strings, three picks, and a "suede 'stash' bag" that's decorated with a small silver spoon, fork, and knife.

The bids opened at USD 1 million for the sale that ended up breaking several world records.

In October 2019, Cobain's green cardigan from the Unplugged performance sold at Julien's Auctions for $334,000, making it the most expensive sweater ever purchased at auction.

Other MTV Unplugged performance items included in the Julien's Auctions lot were Curt Kirkwood's handwritten lyric sheet to the Meat Puppets' "Oh, Me," a typed setlist from the legendary gig, typed-out lyrics for David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" and Meat Puppets' "Lake of Fire," and a letter to Cobain from Nirvana's management company nine days before the Unplugged performance outlining potential songs for the gig.

Cobain died on April 5, 1994. The MTV performance was released as a live album after Cobain's death and earned Nirvana a Grammy in 1996 for best alternative music performance.