A guitar belonging to Noel Gallagher that was damaged backstage at an Oasis concert has been sold for €385,500 (£325,000) at a Paris auction.
The red Gibson ES-355 was broken during a row between Noel and his brother Liam at Paris’s Rock en Seine festival in 2009.
The guitar, said by Noel to be his favourite, had been featured for the first time in the “Stand By Me” music video from the acclaimed Be HereNow album, released in 1997.
Jonathan Berg, a guitar expert and co-founder of the Artpèges gallery that held the auction, said the instrument was symbolic of “a cult moment” in music history.
After the row that resulted in the broken guitar, Noel announced he was leaving the band, saying he could no longer work with Liam. The Britpop group split up, and in the intervening years, both of the Gallagher brothers have spoken openly about their strained relationship.
Liam recently said that the brothers have not spoken for nearly 10 years.
“Things had been brewing for a while between the two brothers,” Berg told The Guardian of the night the guitar was damaged.
He added: “It exploded backstage, one of Noel’s guitars got broken and that led to the group breaking up.”
The guitar, restored in 2011 by luthier Philippe Dubreuille, was displayed at the auction with its original case and a note from its former owner signed “Peace, love and bananas”.
Bids started at €150,000, while auctioneers estimated the guitar could have fetched a price as high as €500,000.
At the same auction house, a rare vinyl signed by Jimi Hendrix and French singer Johnny Hallyday sold for more than €10,000.
