Metallica's Kirk Hammett Shatters Auction Predictions With $76K Guitar Sale

A guitar once played by Metallica's Kirk Hammett during Black Sabbath's final concert has officially become one of the surprise standouts of Julien's Auctions' annual Played, Worn and Torn sale.

What was expected to be a modest listing ended up selling for $76,800, according to Metal Injection.

The silver Gibson SG wasn't expected to be the breakout hit, auction estimates suggested somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000, but fans and collectors pushed it to more than 12 times that projection.

Hammett had roughly 150 pieces in the auction, though the SG didn't take the top spot.
A 1985 Gibson Custom Shop Michael Schenker Flying V from his collection reached $160,000, and a 1996 clear-body ESP Wavecaster climbed to $89,600 by the time bidding closed.

Even with the Metallica star's haul drawing heavy attention, the biggest sale of the event belonged to another rock icon: Keith Richards. His signed 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard topped the auction at $192,000.

Lars Ulrich Remembers Black Sabbath's Final Night

Hammett's SG comes with emotional weight, too. Metallica's Lars Ulrich recently talked about the moment Hammett used that guitar during Black Sabbath's final gig — and how all the musicians backstage were losing it.

Ulrich said on Howard Stern's show that "all the rest of us were just losing our f*****g minds" when Sabbath kicked into "War Pigs" with the full light and siren effects.

Fans and fellow musicians hoped the band would deliver, he said, but there was uncertainty going in.

Once Ozzy Osbourne began singing, Ulrich said everyone knew it was going to be okay. "This is gonna be fine, they're gonna f*****g kill it," he recalled.

Per Guardian, Ulrich also reflected on Osbourne's death, saying the loss stunned everyone. But he added that Ozzy got the moment he'd been waiting for since before the pandemic: "He got up there, he played... maybe he just sort of let go."

Tags

Metallica, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich