A stage-used electric guitar belonging to Johnny Ramone of seminal New York punk band the Ramones sold for $71,875 at RR Auction on January 21.
 Johnny Ramone sold the guitar to a friend in 1990 |
The legendary guitarist played the 1965 Mosrite Ventures V1 in a live show at MTV in 1988.
He later sold it to friend and long time roadie Gene Frawley, inscribing it "Best wishes, Johnny Ramone, 5/22/90".
RR Auction comments: "The first photographic evidence of Ramone playing the guitar comes from a show at the Eagle's Hippodrome in Seattle on May 5, 1983.
"Johnny most often used this guitar for TV appearances and it can be seen up-close during a 1988 performance on MTV.
"This is one of just nine Mosrite guitars owned by Ramone known to exist—an exceedingly rare and historically important piece of music history."
The lot eclipsed the $37,694 paid for a bass guitar owned by Dee Dee Ramone in October 2014.
Other important lots in the auction included a postcard featuring a sketched self portrait of Albert Einstein - which sold for $56,250.
Einstein sent it to Zionist leader Arthur Ruppin while on a visit to Palestine in 1923.
The auction house comments: "Although Einstein was known to accomplish drawings, signed self-portraits are virtually inaccessible—research indicates only three other examples, none of which have been offered publicly."
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