Led Zeppelin guitar could fetch £50,000 at auction – after NME gave it away for free over 50 years ago

A guitar that NME gave away in collaboration with Led Zeppelin is expected to reach £50,000 at auction soon.

• READ MORE: Becoming Led Zeppelin review: the definitive origin story for Britain’s most explosive band

The guitar in question is a 1957 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 electric guitar, which was the prize in a competition run by the New Musical Express magazine.

The competition was held over half a century ago, and saw NME team up with Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page to gift the instrument to one lucky reader. It also came with a copy of the magazine, which showed the iconic guitarist holding it like a cricket bat.

Speaking to NME at the time, Page said he bought the guitar in 1972 from a shop in Nashville, Tennessee. He paid just £200 for it at the time.

Now, the guitar is set to go to auction at the Gardiner Houlgate in Corsham, Wiltshire, on September 9, and is predicted to sell for between £30,000 and £50,000.

The competition got entrants to match six guitars with their famous owners to have a chance at winning the Gretsch. Winning the competition was a man called Charles Reid, who was based in Hornsey, north London.

“Page must be mental giving away such a terrific guitar as this,” he said at the time (as per RTE). “It’s the kind of instrument that every guitar player dreams of owning but can never really afford.”

The guitar remained in Reid’s possession until 1990, when he sold it to a man named Phil O’Donoghue for £2,000. Donoghue was a guitarist in the ‘70s rock band, Wild Angels, and kept the guitar until his death earlier this year.

It is now going to auction due to a decision from his family.

Speaking about the upcoming sale, auctioneer Luke Hobbs said (via Standard): “It’s no exaggeration to say that Jimmy Page is a legendary guitarist and rock star. Very few of his guitars come up for auction, and when they do, they attract huge interest from collectors, investors and fans of Led Zeppelin.

“What’s so wonderful about this guitar is that we have the copies of the New Musical Express showing the competition and even a photo of Page giving the guitar to the winner, Charles Reid.”

Find out more about the auction here.

In other Led Zeppelin news, it was recently shared that the group’s frontman, Robert Plant, will be sharing a new album called ‘Saving Grace’ later this year. The forthcoming project will see him team up with a new band of distinguished players.

Before then, Page recently thanked fans for their “humbling and inspiring” reaction to the new IMAX documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, and previously unseen footage of Led Zeppelin was unearthed after sitting in a drawer for 45 years.

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