Guitar from Prince’s prime sells for huge sum at auction

A custom guitar played by Prince at the height of his stardom in the 1980s and 1990s has sold for a staggering 563,500 US dollars (£456,300) at auction.

The Blue Angel Cloud 2 electric guitar skyrocketed beyond the estimate of 100,000 dollars to 200,000 dollars (£81,000-£162,000) it was expected to fetch at the Music Icons sale run by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills.

Prince played the blindingly blue guitar with the artist’s “love” symbol on its neck beginning on the 1984 Purple Rain Tour, on the classic albums Lovesexy and Sign O’ The Times.

He used it into the early 1990s.

Archivists going through Prince’s possessions at his Paisley Park home and musical headquarters in Minnesota recently found the guitar that was thought to be lost during the four years since his death from an overdose aged 57.

A similar Prince guitar sold for 700,000 dollars (£567,000) in 2016.

At the same auction, a macrame belt that Elvis Presley wore about 30 times on stage brought in nearly 10 times its expected price, with a final bid of 298,000 dollars (£241,300).

An ivory gown worn by Madonna in her 1990 Vogue video sold for 179,200 dollars (£145,100).

The identities of the buyers were not revealed.

Items still to be sold included Sir Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to the Beatles song Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.