A guitar given to B.B. King for his 80th birthday has sold for $280,000 at an auction of items from the blues legend’s estate.
Julien’s Auctions says King often used the black Gibson ES-345 prototype that was one of several guitars he called «Lucille.» A spokeswoman for the auction house, Mozell Miley-Bailey, said that the buyer wants to remain anonymous.
Before the auction, Julien’s estimated the guitar’s value at $80,000 to $100,000. The headstock has “B.B. King 80” and a crown inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the guitar is autographed on the back. The Gibson company gave King the guitar as a gift.
Early in his career, King ran back into a burning nightclub to rescue his guitar, and he later learned the fire started when two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King said he never met the woman but started naming his guitars Lucille as a reminder to never again endanger his own life.
The auction of more than 550 items from King’s estate took place in Los Angeles over the weekend, a few days after what would have been his 94th birthday. He died in 2015.
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