Nirvana's Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged sold at auction

The guitar Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain, used during his famous MTV Unplugged performance in 1993 has sold at auction for $6 million.

Kurt Cobain performed a rare acoustic set with Nirvana and cut a 5× platinum album just months before the Irish American grunge artist took his own life. The album also won a Grammy Award and has been ranked as one of the best albums of all time.

The guitar, a 1959 Martin-D 18E, sold to Australian businessman Peter Freedman, owner of Røde Microphones, at the Music Icons event run by Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California.

On his company's blog, Freedman wrote "When I heard that this iconic guitar was up for auction I immediately knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure it and use it as a vehicle to spotlight the struggles that those in the performing arts are facing and have always faced."

Cobain tragically took his own life, aged 27, on April 5, 1994.

His famous guitar was sold along with his case, which was decorated with a flyer from the punk rock band, Poison Idea's 1990s album, Feel the Darkness.

Most expensive guitar in the world

Cobain's guitar now stands as the most expensive guitars in the world to sell at auction. Until now the most expensive had been a Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed the Black Strat, which was used by Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour. It was sold for $1.7 million during a charity sale, in June 2019.

At Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, last week, a custom guitar played by Prince sold for $563,500, well over the $100,000 to $200,000 it was expected to fetch.

Elvis' macrame belt, which the Irish American star wore more than 30 times on stage also fetched nearly ten times more than expected with a final bid of $298,000. Also, an ivory gown, worn by Madonna in her 1990 “Vogue” video sold for $179,200.

Here is Nirvana's full MTV Unplugged performance: