Guitar formerly owned by Prince set for auction

One of Prince’s most iconic guitars, used on stage by the late musician during the height of his success, is heading to auction.

The Cloud 3 guitar was used during the Purple Rain, Parade, Sign of the Times, Lovesexy, and Diamonds and Pearls tours. It’s expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000 but could beat those estimates.

The current highest-selling guitar that was owned by the artist is a blue Cloud that sold for $700,000  (or about €800,000) in 2017.

The Cloud 3 / Photo: Julien's auction

The Cloud 3 was last sold almost 20 years ago for almost €4,900, significantly lower than its original listing of £59,000 due to the fact that it hadn’t been verified as one of Prince’s. Now, the bright yellow guitar has been verified after a CT scan and interviews with Dave Rusan, the luthier behind its creation.

The guitar is being sold alongside a heavy line up of instruments from historical artists, including John Lennon’s recently found Help! Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar, Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson’s 1965 Fender Telecaster and Bono’s 2005 Gretsch Irish Falcon, among others.

The Cloud 3 will be part of an exhibition tour of the auction at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville from May 15 to 18. After that, it will be available for public viewing in New York for a week before the auction on May 29 and 30 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square.