Kurt Cobain smashed guitar to sell for $40,000 at Sotheby's?

A Univox guitar smashed by Kurt Cobain during a show in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1989 is valued at $30,000-40,000 ahead of Sotheby's Rock & Roll History auction in New York on June 24.

Kurt Cobain smashed
Cobain smashed the guitar during a 1989 show in New Jersey

Nirvana producer Jack Endino commented: "I heard stories about Kurt's guitar destruction from the Sub Pop [record label] people early on.

"When he was out on the road he'd call them up and say, `I don't know what got into me, but I just smashed up my guitar.' I don't think he was planning on smashing guitars from day one.

"It was just something he did. The poor Sub Pop people would call all the pawn shops up and down the coast, looking for Univox guitars."

The lot is sold alongside a letter of provenance from a fan that provided the band with a place to stay after the show and was presented with the guitar as a keepsake.

Check out our top five sales of Kurt Cobain memorabilia here.

A bass drum head emblazoned with the Crass logo and signed by the band's drummer, Penny Rimbaud, is valued at $15,000-20,000.

Crass Sotheby's drum
Crass were a hugely influential anarcho-punk band

The band formed in 1977 and was at the forefront of the anarcho-punk scene until they split in 1984.

The sale includes some hugely important lots from across the decades, including Jimi Hendrix's infamous PPX contract and John Lennon's guitar organ and piano.

You can take a look at all our music memorabilia here.

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