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Hendrix, Prince Guitars Expected to Make Noise at Auction


U.S. musician Jimi Hendrix's Epiphone acoustic guitar is displayed in an exhibition space at the central London flat he used to live in at 23 Brook Street, London, Feb. 8, 2016. The guitar will be sold in auction Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016.
U.S. musician Jimi Hendrix's Epiphone acoustic guitar is displayed in an exhibition space at the central London flat he used to live in at 23 Brook Street, London, Feb. 8, 2016. The guitar will be sold in auction Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016.

A guitar owned by American rocker Jimi Hendrix is expected to fetch more than 80,000 pounds ($101,000) when it goes under the hammer in London on Thursday as part of the annual entertainment sale by British auction house Bonhams.

"Purple Haze" singer Hendrix, who died in 1970 aged 27, is said to have owned the Epiphone acoustic guitar for three years after purchasing it second-hand for $25 in New York City while on tour in 1967, Bonhams said.

"It was actually the guitar he owned for the longest period... and because it's an acoustic guitar, it is quite likely that he composed some of his songs on it," Katherine Schofield, Head of Bonhams entertainment department, told Reuters.

A Bonhams assistant displays a Cloud Guitar made for Prince. The custom instrument will be sold at auction, Dec. 15, 2016.
A Bonhams assistant displays a Cloud Guitar made for Prince. The custom instrument will be sold at auction, Dec. 15, 2016.

A custom-made Cloud Guitar used on tour by late American musician Prince is also up for auction in London on Thursday, carrying an estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 pounds.

Other auction items include a flamboyant jacket worn by Rolling Stone Keith Richards, rare self-portrait caricatures of The Beatles signed by the band, and a Boesendorfer piano played by Queen's Freddie Mercury and Coldplay.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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