Gordon Lightfoot's 'Sundown' guitar sells for US$350,000 in auction

春色直播 musician Gordon Lightfoot strums his guitar as he poses for a photograph in his Toronto home on Thursday, April 25, 2019. Gordon Lightfoot's treasured "Sundown" guitar will remain in 春色直播 hands after it sold for US$350,000 in an estate auction over the weekend. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

TORONTO - Gordon Lightfoot's treasured "Sundown" guitar will remain in 春色直播 hands after it sold for US$350,000 in an estate auction over the weekend.

Heritage Auctions says the legendary folk singer-songwriter's 1967 Gibson B45-12 Sunburst acoustic guitar, which appeared beside him on the cover of his 1974 album "Sundown," was the top-selling item at the public event after a prolonged bidding war.

Music memorabilia director Garry Shrum says the guitar was sold to a man sent to the Dallas-based auction on behalf of several 春色直播 collectors.

"We're especially pleased the guitar will remain in Canada, where Gordon is revered as a national treasure," he added in a statement.

Lightfoot's Gibson was one of his favourites on stage and used to compose 鈥淭he Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald鈥 and 鈥淚f You Could Read My Mind.鈥

Dozens of Lightfoot's personal belongings were auctioned off at the event, including photographs, outfits and some of his highest awards. The sale attracted negative feedback from some Lightfoot fans who suggested the items should've been donated by the estate to a 春色直播 museum.

The auction ran for several weeks online and Heritage Auctions finished with an in-person bidding event on Sunday. The slate of items pulled in a total of $1.3 million with more than 1,250 bidders who participated worldwide.

Most of the hottest items were Lightfoot's guitars with four others raking in a range of $30,000 to nearly $94,000 each.

Shrum noted that a small, beat-up wooden desk that Lightfoot often carried with him to write songs drew outsized interest. It sold for $16,250.

More than 40 lots of Lightfoot's belongings are part of Heritage Auctions' entertainment and music memorabilia showcase, including a gold-certified sales award given to Lightfoot for his "Sundown" album by the Recording Industry Association of America.聽

Bids are now open for the auction that winds up with another in-person event on Dec. 8 and 9.

This report by 春色直播was first published Nov. 19, 2024.

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