Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay spent $137,500 of the $2.3 billion he's reportedly worth on a guitar that Prince frequently used in his concerts up until the mid '90s. Irsay made the purchase amongst fellow members of the elite at an auction in Beverly Hills on Saturday night.
The auction was conducted by Heritage Auctions, who stated that the "Yellow Cloud" electric guitar was a favorite of Prince's between roughly 1988 and 1994.
Here it is, in action, being used in his video for "Cream":
Irsay's purchase is just one of a number of the late icon's personal possessions that will likely find their way into rich people's macabre collections over the coming months.
As you're almost certainly aware, Prince died of an overdose of the drug Fentanyl in his suburban Minnesota home back in April. He was 57 years old.
This particular guitar was put on the auction block by Prince fan Richard Leece, who purchased it last year for $30,000. Said Leece of his $100,000-plus profit, "something as valuable as this could be too risky to continue to have in my possession.”
Also available at the auction, amongst many other items, was a lock of the late David Bowie's hair, which was purchased by an unnamed crazy person for $18,750.
As for Irsay, he is an avid collector of musical instruments, previously purchasing guitars owned by George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Jerry Garcia, as well as a $2 million set of drums that once belonged to Ringo Starr.
