Les Paul Auction Sets Records

A day auction of Les Paul’s guitars and gear took place at Julien’s Auctions in Beverley Hills. The auction concluded on the 9th June 2012 which would have been Les Paul’s 97th birthday.

The auction sale raised nearly $5 million for the Les Paul Foundation which supports music education, innovation, engineering and medical research. Musicians, collectors and fans crowded the auction floor in a bidding war to win one of many unique and historic items.

Sale items and winning bids included; 1927 Gibson  L-5 Cremona Sunburst guitar that sold for $87,500; a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Recording Model  prototype that fetched $180,000; a 1950s white Gibson Les Paul with extensive  technical notations that sold for $75,000; a 1951 Fender Nocaster that raised a whopping $216,000; and a 1940s  Epiphone Zephyr, known as “Klunker #3” (with a modified headstock that says “Gibson”), which sold for $144,000.