Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot strums his guitar in his Toronto home in 2019. Dozens of his personal belongings were auctioned off at an estate auction over the weekend, including photographs, outfits and some of his highest awards.
Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
Gordon Lightfoot’s treasured Sundown guitar will remain in Canadian hands after it sold for US$350,000 in an estate auction over the weekend.
Heritage Auctions says the legendary folk singer-songwriter’s 1967 Gibson B45-12 Sunburst acoustic guitar, which appeared beside him on the cover of his 1974 album Sundown, was the top-selling item at the public event after a prolonged bidding war.
Music memorabilia director Garry Shrum says the guitar was sold to a man sent to the Dallas-based auction on behalf of several Canadian collectors.
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Lightfoot’s Gibson was one of his favourites on stage and used to compose The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and If You Could Read My Mind.
Gordon Lightfoot’s prized guitars and more will be going once, going twice, gone in final auction
Dozens of Lightfoot’s personal belongings were auctioned off at the event, including photographs, outfits and some of his highest awards.
The estate says the auction ran for several weeks online and wrapped with an in-person bidding event on Sunday. The slate of items pulled in a total of $1.3-million with more than 1,250 bidders who participated worldwide.
Most of the hottest items were Lightfoot’s guitars with four others raking in a range of $30,000 to nearly $94,000 each.