Jim Irsay's memorabilia sets 23 records, nets $93 million at auction

Ayrton Ostly, USA TODAYSun, March 15, 2026 at 5:10 PM UTC

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Jim Irsay's memorabilia sets 23 records, nets $93 million at auction

The late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay created a remarkable collection of sports memorabilia in his lifetime, and it has set multiple records at auction this week.

Much of Irsay's collection was sold at auction and brought in $93.65 million from Thursday through Saturday, per ESPN's Dan Hajducky. That far exceeded predictions from Christie's pre-auction estimates of $40 million.

Irsay's guitar collection alone resulted in five of the top 10 most expensive guitars ever sold.

Irsay paid $3.97 million for David Gilmour's "Black Strat" guitar in 2019 and it sold at auction for $14.55 million. Jerry Garcia's "Tiger" guitar - which Irsay bought in 2002 - sold for $11.56 million, blowing away prior projections of $1-2 million. The Fender Mustang guitar Nirvana's Kurt Cobain used on the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" sold for $6.9 million, rounding out the top three most expensive guitars ever sold.

The other two guitars from Irsay's collection to enter the top 10 were Eric Clapton's 000-42 acoustic guitar used in his 1992 MTV Unplugged performance which sold for $4.1 million. Clapton's 1964 Gibson SG Standard "The Fool" went for $3 million as well.

Per Guitar.com, Irsay's collection of guitars alone netted $84 million.

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Irsay's collection set a different record as well. The original typescript of "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac sold for $12.135 million, setting a record for a literary manuscript. A spiral notebook containing 28 pages of the original "Rocky" script went for $508,000 as well.

In the sports section of his collection, Irsay had many notable items as well. The saddle used by jockey Ron Turcotte in 1973 as he rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown set a record for a horse racing item at $1.524 million. Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers jersey from when he scored his 500th NHL goal also sold for $952,500.

For boxing fans, the robe worn by Muhammad Ali in his first appearance after changing his name went for $444,500. Ali wore it during the Ali vs. Liston II fight in 1965.

In all, Irsay's collection set 23 records at auction.

Christie's states that "a portion of the proceeds of these sales will be donated to philanthropic causes supported by Jim Irsay during his lifetime."

Irsay died in May 2025 at the age of 65. The FBI is investigating the circumstances of his death as of January in connection to his relationship with addiction specialist Dr. Harry Haroutunian.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jim Irsay's record collection: Pink Floyd guitar headlines $93M auction

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Source: “AOL Sports”