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Posted in January 2017

Photos from the Hard Rock valuation

The Hard Rock Cafe archive contains an astonishing 72,000 plus items of memorabilia and over a number of years we have been asked to appraise some of their most iconic artefacts. It’s impossible to select favourites, but to follow are some of the pieces which excited us most representing just a tiny fraction of the phenomenal selection we have seen.

Madonna’s gold lame corset with conical `bullet’ cups, labelled inside Jean Paul Gaultier, Paris –  worn  for the second `Religious’ act of the Blonde Ambition tour, 1990.

Jack Bruce’s Fender VI  bass guitar, 1962 – hand-painted by The Fool – used by Bruce whilst recording the album Disraeli Gears, 1967 and used to compose the single Strange Brew; companion to Clapton’s Gibson SG hand-painted by The Fool

Jimi Hendrix’s Stars and Stripes shirt, 1970 – worn throughout the summer of 1970

Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road suit decorated with artwork from the album, 1973 – made for the world tour to promote the album

Keith Richards’ Gibson SG Custom electric guitar – Richards’ main stage guitar  throughout the Stones infamous 1972 US Tour

John Lennon – Bagism, Love and Peace, May, 1969, signed by Lennon and Ono, with self-portrait caricature faces in Lennon’s hand – made by Lennon for the second `Bed-In’, Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Canada

Jimi Hendrix’s Gibson Flying V Custom left-handed guitar, 1968, serial number 849476 – used at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1970

The Beatles, A rare hand-painted concert poster for an appearance at The Kaiserkeller, Hamburg, Germany, 1960 – only one of two known to exist

All photographs courtesy of the Hard Rock Cafe