Dire Straits star Mark Knopfler to auction Brothers In Arms guitars - BBC NEWS

[dustyvalentino]

Paul Sexton interviews John Illsley tonight at 7pm at Christies.  Rudy Pensa at 8:15.  Portobello Gin tasting too!

any result from this?

Sexton 0 - Illsley 0 (AET). Sexton wins on penalties.

[thomaslogan1983]

Hi guys, new to the forum.

I've been down to christies and I'm thinking of going down on the auction day. As a huge fan, I am considering getting one of the cheaper lots.

Has anyone got a reasonable idea of what the guitars will fetch in relation to the estimates. I spoke to a guy while I was there, he said general rule is 4 to 6 times estimate.

I did see Gilmours went for much more than 4 to 6 of estimates. Has anyone got reasonable experience in things like this? Would love to get some info.

Thanks 😊

[dustyvalentino]

Welcome!

Like you I looked at the Gilmour auctions:

I would expect a second hand Historic reissue Les Paul like this to sell for maybe £3,500, possibly £4,000 on a good day? He apparently recorded with it once.

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6198180?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6198180&from=salessummary&lid=1

It sold for £93,750 (plus auction fees etc).

Good luck!

[thomaslogan1983]

Exactly!!

Gilmours was all for charity, so I'm thinking maybe that increased prices a bit.
And people are saying he's a bigger name etc.
Not sure if there is anyone who is confident on predicting likely prices, so I know what to prepare for!
Also christies whack on 26% on top of sale price.
Shame lifelong fans have such a hard time winning these things!

[dustyvalentino]

It is a shame but I don't know how else to do these things. I guess he could do a random lottery but people who aren't fans could still win and then sell themselves.

Are there any particular items you hope to go for?

[quizzaciously]

Exactly!!

Gilmours was all for charity, so I'm thinking maybe that increased prices a bit.
And people are saying he's a bigger name etc.
Not sure if there is anyone who is confident on predicting likely prices, so I know what to prepare for!
Also christies whack on 26% on top of sale price.
Shame lifelong fans have such a hard time winning these things!

To be honest, I don't think Mark's auction will yield prices as outrageous as Gilmour's. The latter is way, way, waaaaaay more popular than Mark, like you it or not. So naturally, he would sell even a Soviet-made acoustic guitar, which I would call a shitar (because it was my first guitar), for $100,000 in his auction. Do you think Mark's balalaika will go for $100,000? I don't think so.

I would try it, worth a try, and Mark's low profile is a huge bonus in this particular case.

[dustyvalentino]

The latter is way, way, waaaaaay more popular than Mark, like you it or not.

I'm not an MK apologist but I'm not sure if DG is that much more popular than MK.

A crude measure - Spotify monthly listeners:

Pink Floyd: 18.7m
David Gilmour: 628k

Dire Straits: 17.7m
Mark Knopfler: 1.9m

[thomaslogan1983]

I'd agree, that his should yield much lower. But just with general auctions of celeb stuff, like I remember he sold a signed playing card thing, for maybe teenage cancer trust, and knopflers lot of exactly the same item, went for more than claptons or gilmours.

Even before Xmas, some small steps charity auctioned off celebs shoes.

Most went for £100 to £200, and Mark Knopflers went for 4.3k

So I'm slightly concerned 🤣

[quizzaciously]

The latter is way, way, waaaaaay more popular than Mark, like you it or not.

I'm not an MK apologist but I'm not sure if DG is that much more popular than MK.

A crude measure - Spotify monthly listeners:

Pink Floyd: 18.7m
David Gilmour: 628k

Dire Straits: 17.7m
Mark Knopfler: 1.9m

Good point, which of course, tells you about the popularity of the music, rather than the popularity of a personality. Mark is a more consistent and more prolific songwriter than David, let's face it, but David simply has to be more popular than Mark, no way it's not the case. Just walk outside and ask a random spectator if they know who David Gilmour is or who played guitar and sang in Pink Floyd, and what about Mark Knopfler? It's even difficult to pronounce the guy's name, let alone remember it!

[dustyvalentino]

The latter is way, way, waaaaaay more popular than Mark, like you it or not.

I'm not an MK apologist but I'm not sure if DG is that much more popular than MK.

A crude measure - Spotify monthly listeners:

Pink Floyd: 18.7m
David Gilmour: 628k

Dire Straits: 17.7m
Mark Knopfler: 1.9m

Good point, which of course, tells you about the popularity of the music, rather than the popularity of a personality. Mark is a more consistent and more prolific songwriter than David, let's face it, but David simply has to be more popular than Mark, no way it's not the case. Just walk outside and ask a random spectator if they know who David Gilmour is or who played guitar and sang in Pink Floyd, and what about Mark Knopfler? It's even difficult to pronounce the guy's name, let alone remember it!

I don't know about other countries but here in the UK I genuinely think it would be about even.

MK had "guitar god" status and DG, while highly regarded for his tones and originality, never quite got there.

[quizzaciously]

The latter is way, way, waaaaaay more popular than Mark, like you it or not.

I'm not an MK apologist but I'm not sure if DG is that much more popular than MK.

A crude measure - Spotify monthly listeners:

Pink Floyd: 18.7m
David Gilmour: 628k

Dire Straits: 17.7m
Mark Knopfler: 1.9m

Good point, which of course, tells you about the popularity of the music, rather than the popularity of a personality. Mark is a more consistent and more prolific songwriter than David, let's face it, but David simply has to be more popular than Mark, no way it's not the case. Just walk outside and ask a random spectator if they know who David Gilmour is or who played guitar and sang in Pink Floyd, and what about Mark Knopfler? It's even difficult to pronounce the guy's name, let alone remember it!

I don't know about other countries but here in the UK I genuinely think it would be about even.

MK had "guitar god" status and DG, while highly regarded for his tones and originality, never quite got there.

All thanks to "Sultans Of Swing". Mark owes his whole life and career to that one song, without it he would be a niche musician and not a "guitar god" by any means. If we talk about Sultans, then yes, I'd say they are equal, but everybody seems to be obsessed with David's solos, you see kids everywhere playing "Time", "Comfortably Numb", "Shine On", "Marooned, and "Money" solos, Mark has nothing at all like this, only a bunch of people playing one song over and over again, and completely avoiding his entire discography.

Still, no way on this planet Mark's guitars are gonna raise 21 mil like David's, I think anybody can agree at least on that. And you likely won't have Jim Irsay buying a single lot for 4 million either. I'm curious to see the results and want to be wrong, but unfortunately, experience tells me it will not be spectacular.

[dustyvalentino]

Just for fun, here are the Google search numbers for DG and MK since 2004, see if you can guess which is which

(You can cheat by looking at the file names, so don't do that)





PS I agree that MK's auction total will be less than DG's. There's quite a lot of stuff in MK's auction that isn't actually that great.

[quizzaciously]

Just for fun, here are the Google search numbers for DG and MK since 2004, see if you can guess which is which

PS I agree that MK's auction total will be less than DG's. There's quite a lot of stuff in MK's auction that isn't actually that great.

Haha! Now this chart basically tells us that both David and Mark are old socks that belong to a scrape yard rather than fancy auctions, so you might be right. It's like if you're 15 years old, and your friend is 25 years old it feels like the world of difference, but when you're 75 and your friend is 85 you both are just two old farts. David might be more popular than Mark, but in the world of John Mayers, Ed Sheerans and Taylor Swifts they are "pale blue dots".

To be honest, David's auction also had several ordinary instruments, some of which apparently were never even used by David, just owned. Mark's collection seems to be more consistent and used, again, thanks to his career simply being more consistent and prolific. A lot of songs, a lot of guitars, makes sense.

[dustyvalentino]

My kids are 13 and 16. They have heard of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler but only because of me, otherwise they would have no clue. They would have no clue about Pink Floyd or David Gilmour. They would know about Nirvana through tshirts.

[quizzaciously]

My kids are 13 and 16. They have heard of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler but only because of me, otherwise they would have no clue. They would have no clue about Pink Floyd or David Gilmour. They would know about Nirvana through tshirts.

Coincidentally, it's David Gilmour's and Kurt Cobain's guitars that are famous for being the most expensive ones at auctions. Skystang 1 was just sold for 1.5 million recently, and Martin D-18 famously went for 6+ million. David's Black Strat went for 4 million dollars. I doubt MK will be in this category of famous. Now imagine if KURT COBAIN'S most famous and used guitar went for "only" 1.5 million as recently as a few months ago, no way Mark can beat that.

I wonder if his Teenage Trust guitar with signatures will raise the most money, that would be funny. Some really famous names on that one, Ringo Starr's signature alone is worth a lot, and it's only one of a bunch of legendary musicians who participated.