Place Your Bids on Priceless Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton Items
Superstar auction instruments and more for COVID-19 relief.
Country stars like Taylor Swift and Dolly Parton are cleaning out their closets for a good cause, selling priceless personal treasures to support the bus drivers, guitar techs and other concert-industry pros out of work through the pandemic.
Donating their keepsakes for an auction titled NASHVILLE: An Auction to Benefit ACM Lifting Lives® COVID-19 Response Fund, Swift and her fellow stars are offering up items that come with incredible backstories — and big price tags. Bidding on a huge assortment of instruments, clothing and more is open now through October 29 at christies.com/Nashville, and all the money raised will help country’s essential workers.
Taylor Swift has donated one of the collection’s most intriguing collectibles — a black 2018 Gibson acoustic guitar personally inscribed and dated by the superstar, which is estimated to be work $25,000-40,000. For that modest price the guitar comes with some extras, though, including accessories and a famous backstory. This is the guitar Swift played during her world premiere performance of “betty” at the 2020 ACM Awards.
Meanwhile, Parton has offered up the dulcimer that marked one of the most important milestones in her life — her 50th Grand Ole Opry Anniversary in 2019. The is studded with Swarovski crystals and is worth between $50,000-100,000, but Parton feels like its human value is potentially even greater.
“Seeing my country music community suffer due to the pandemic has broken my heart,” she said in a statement about the auction. “It was important to donate the dulcimer that was designed for my 50th Opry Anniversary so we can raise awareness and much needed funds to keep these folks on their feet before we can open the doors to our stages once again.”
Other celebrity items up for bidding include Sheryl Crow’s vintage Baldoni accordion (estimate: $8,000-12,000); Keith Urban’s Hi-9 semi-solid body electric guitar played in the “Coming Home” video (estimate: $5,000-10,000); Bradley Cooper’s semi-hollow body electric Gibson guitar from A Star Is Born (estimate: $2,000-4,000); and Tim McGraw’s F131 Hellcat Motorcycle by Curtiss Motors (estimate: $30,000-50,000); plus clothing and instruments from Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert and more.
“We are immensely grateful to the artists in the Nashville community and beyond who have generously donated items for this auction in collaboration with Christie’s,” said ACM Lifting Lives Executive Director, Lyndsay Cruz. “Every winning bid will go towards our COVID-19 Response Fund to support the workers of our Country Music community: the tour bus drivers, aspiring musicians, techs and venue workers – so many of whom have lost their livelihoods overnight during the course of this pandemic. So far, the fund has distributed $1.5 million and we are hoping the sale of these iconic items will enable us to support more affected by this crisis.”
