Details of  Prince’s Iconic Yellow Cloud Electric Guitar bought by Colts owner Jim Irsay, for $137,500. Image: Heritage Auctions

AUCTION: Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay pays $137,500 for Prince’s Yellow Cloud  electric guitar

BY KAZAD

BEVERLY HILLS – Prince’s personally-owned and played Yellow Cloud Electric Guitar  has been sold for $137,500. It was bought by Mr. Jim Irsay, owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts ,who already has  one of the world’s finest collections of historical instruments. The electric guitar which is as  unique and innovative as the artist’s legendary contribution to the music world was bought Sunday during Heritage Auctions’ Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Auction  in Beverly Hills.

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By buying the  Yellow Cloud Electric Guitar, Mr. Jim Irsay  has added another important piece to his collections of historical instruments. He  personally-own instruments by Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr, among others.

Chris McKinney, Curator of Rare Guitars & Collectables, The Irsay Collection expressed  Mr. Irsay delight acquiring  this historical instrument  which will reside with many others. He said: “The collection is about preserving pieces of music history and this guitar will join those used by some of the world’s greatest musicians – of which Prince certainly deserves a place of honor.”

The Yellow Cloud Electric Guitar  has a solid body guitar, and was  made-to-order in the shape and style Prince made famous. The electric  guitar served Prince well. Before Prince  broke the neck of this electric guitar at a French T.V. show  in 1994, it was his main guitar and he used it in most of his early videos and touring performances & album recordings. Even after the neck was fixed and new features such as the Floyd Rose set up were added, Prince continued to play the guitar until the symbol guitar was born.

Richard Lecce, the former owner of the  electric guitar hopes that the Mr. Irsay will appreciate the guitar as much as he did. He added: “It would be wonderful if it could be shared with the world in some way so that other people can enjoy it as both a work of art and a piece of music history.”

Other Prince memorabilia sold at the Heritage Auctions’ Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Auction in Beverly Hills included:

1. A rare Reel-to-Reel Demo Tape with Tracklist Written in His Own Hand, which sold for $4,250

2. A1984 “Purple Rain” RIAA Platinum Record Sales Award bestowed to Prince and the Revolution commemorating the sale of more than 1 million copies was pushed to $7,500

3. An RIAA Gold Record Sales Award for 1999, sold $5,000

Heritage Auctions/YouTube

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