The most and least expensive items from the record-breaking Jim Irsay auction
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Prince's Andy Beech custom Yellow Cloud guitar hangs out during a press preview of the Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles. Photo: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
Late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay's memorabilia didn't just sell at Christie's. In true Irsay fashion, it rewrote the auction record books.
Why it matters: With a pledge to support nonprofits important to him in place after his death, the nine-figure haul is poised to impact countless lives.
Driving the news: Across five sales, the Jim Irsay Collection brought in more than $105 million, making it the highest-grossing memorabilia auction ever staged, according to Christie's.
Zoom in: The top-selling item overall left the block during the first live auction. David Gilmour's black Fender Stratocaster took in $14.55 million, the most ever paid for a guitar.
- Rounding out the top three, also from the first auction, were Jack Kerouac's original "On the Road" typescript scroll, which sold to country star Zach Bryan for $12.135 million, and Jerry Garcia's "Tiger" guitar, which sold for $11.56 million.
The latest: The final live auction, "Icons of History," was held on July 1 and featured items befitting America's 250th birthday.
- It included a letter sent from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson the day after the closing of the Federal Convention in Philadelphia that sold for $2.8 million, and the first official facsimile of the original signed manuscript of the Declaration of Independence that sold for $2 million.
- The quirkiest is a voting machine used in Marion County, Florida, during the 2000 presidential election, when the nation learned about hanging chads.
Yes, but: Not everything in the collection commanded millions. A handful of Soviet Cold War relics sold for just a few hundred dollars.
- A Soviet government-issued gas mask and a group of Soviet uniform epaulets bearing the KGB insignia each sold for $254, representing the lowest sale prices of the multi-month auction.
- The cheapest item sold last week was an FDR reelection campaign button that went for $381.
Between the lines: Christie's says a portion of the proceeds will be donated to philanthropic causes Irsay supported during his lifetime.
- That includes the Colts' "Kicking the Stigma" campaign for mental health awareness.
- The final lot of the July 1 auction was the original working manuscript of the Alcoholics Anonymous "Big Book," which sold to the Stepping Stones Foundation for $2.4 million, with all proceeds designated for philanthropic causes.
- Irsay famously had his own lifelong struggle with addiction, and his father and grandfather both had alcoholism.
What they're saying: "Our dad understood the struggles countless people everywhere face every day and wanted so badly to bring hope and relief to anyone who was suffering," Irsay's three daughters, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson, said in a statement before the sale.
- "This manuscript did just that by introducing the 12-step program to the world and saving millions of lives everywhere."
- "As he was fond of saying, 'Its sheer impact on the world makes it one of the most impactful books ever written.'"