The final concert of Black Sabbath witnessed a historic moment when a guitar played by Kirk Hammett fetched an astonishing $76,800 at auction. Among the 150 instruments listed by the Metallica rocker for Julien's Auctions' annual Played, Worn and Torn sale, the silver Gibson SG he wielded during the late Ozzy Osbourne's final performance in Birmingham stood out as a star attraction. Initially estimated to sell for $4,000-$6,000, the guitar smashed expectations by fetching over 12 times its expected price.
Yet, it wasn't the most expensive of Kirk's instruments to be sold as a 1985 Gibson Custom Shop Michael Schenker Flying V fetched a massive $160,000, while a 1996 ESP Wavecaster with a clear body reached a final selling price of $89,600. The auction also included items from legends like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan, but the highest-selling item was a guitar owned by Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards. The 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard, signed by the musician himself, sold for an impressive $192,000.
Kirk's bandmate, Lars Ulrich, recently reflected on the Back to the Beginning show and the awe-inspiring performance by Black Sabbath. "All of us were losing our minds," he told DJ Howard Stern. "When they started playing 'War Pigs' with the lights on and the show and air raid sirens, we as fans had a sense that this was going to be amazing – and I don't think I'm being disrespectful when I say that we all hoped for the best."
Ulrich continued, "We wanted it to be a grand slam, but we didn't know because none of us knew what shape they were in... Then Ozzy came in singing and sounded great, hitting all the notes and lyrics with precision. Everybody was thinking, 'This is gonna be fine, they're gonna kill it.'"
