David Gilmour’s legendary “Black Strat,” the guitar that the Pink Floyd star played on such songs as “Money,” “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and his legendary solo on “Comfortably Numb,” shattered its pre-auction estimate today (March 12, 2026). The instrument, part of the Jim Irsay Collection auction at Christie’s in New York, sold for $14,550,000, including the buyer’s premium. The guitar’s new owner was not identified. Irsay, the longtime owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, had purchased it for $3,975,000 in 2019, a record at the time, when Gilmour sold more than 100 guitars for charity. At the 2026 auction, the “Black Strat” had a pre-auction estimate of “just” $2,000,000 – $4,000,000.

Irsay, a noted collector, died in May 21, 2025, at just 65. The March 12 auction totaled $84,091,350, not including the buyers’ premiums. The Jim Irsay Collection was described by Christie’s as “a chorus of cultural touchstones – chronicling one of the greatest collections of music, film and sports memorabilia, historic Americana and American literature ever assembled. Guitars and other instruments played by The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Gilmour, Jerry Garcia, Kurt Cobain, Elton John, Prince, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, John Coltrane and Miles Davis; items linked to sporting legends including Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, Wayne Gretzky and even Secretariat; and original manuscripts by Jack Kerouac, Jim Morrison and Steve Jobs. This unparalleled collection, of exceptional scope and rarity, weaves together some of the most significant people, literature and events of recent history.”

Gilmour’s 2019 event was described at the time as the “largest and most comprehensive sale of guitars ever offered at auction,” as the instruments sold for a total of $21,490,750. All sale proceeds at that auction were donated to ClientEarth.

Gilmour purchased the 1969 Black Fender Stratocaster in 1970 at Manny’s on West 48th Street in New York. “The Black Strat” quickly became his primary performance and recording instrument for the next 15 years and it was extensively modified to accommodate Gilmour’s evolving style and performance requirements.

“These guitars have been very good to me and many of them have given me pieces of music over the years,” said Gilmour, in the 2019 pre-auction announcement. “They have paid for themselves many times over, but it’s now time that they moved on. Guitars were made to be played and it is my wish that wherever they end up, they continue to give their owners the gift of music. By auctioning these guitars I hope that I can give some help where it is really needed and through my charitable foundation do some good in this world. It will be a wrench to see them go and perhaps one day I’ll have to track one or two of them down and buy them back!”

“The Black Strat” reclaims the title of the most expensive guitar ever sold. One year after Irsay purchased it in 2019, Kurt Cobain’s Martin D-18E that he played on Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged performance sold at auction for $6,010,000.

Gilmour’s guitar was key to the development of the Pink Floyd sound and was instrumental in the recording of landmark albums such as Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979), and the band’s 1973 masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon.

Related: Our Album Rewind of Wish You Were Here

The guitar can also be heard on Gilmour’s solo albums including David Gilmour (1978), About Face (1984), On an Island (2006) and Rattle That Lock (2015).

After a period of temporary retirement while on semi-permanent loan to the Hard Rock Cafe, Gilmour reclaimed “The Black Strat” for Pink Floyd’s historic reunion concert at Live 8 in London’s Hyde Park on July 2, 2005, reinstating it as his guitar of choice for the next decade and firmly establishing its place in rock history.

Watch Gilmour discuss the collection

In 2024, Gilmour released Luck and Strange, his first new studio album since 2015. It’s available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.