Bob Marley’s Guitar Which Cindy Breakespeare Used To Hit Him Fetches US$153,600 At Auction

Bob Marley’s now-infamous Circa guitar which former Miss World Cindy Breakspeare used to hit him over the head back in 1979, sold for a whopping $153,600 during Julien’s Auctions’, Icons and Idols Trilogy: Rock and Roll annual sale, which was staged from December 1 to 2.

The instrument, a rare Circa 1975 Ovation 1612-4 Custom Balladeer acoustic/electric guitar bearing the serial number 041 724, far surpassed the auctioneer’s projections, as it had been expected to be sold for only between US$80,000 and US$100,000.

The guitar which was the first of the Reggae legend’s guitar ever to be auctioned, was reportedly given to Marley by Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, who had bought it in London as a gift for the One Love singer several decades ago.

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Bob had reportedly given the guitar to his friend Benji Levy in 1979.  The two had become friends in 1973, when Levy sold his blue BMW 2500 to Bob at a car dealership in Jamaica, after telling the singer that the letters B.M.W “stood for Bob Marley and the Wailers”.

The No Woman No Cry singer gave the guitar to Levy the day after its neck was damaged during a lovers’ quarrel at a Mayfair, London hotel between himself and Cindy, who is the mother of his last son Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marley, after she hit him with the instrument.   Levy later had the instrument repaired.

The guitar, which comes in a brown molded hard case, was described by the auctioneers as having “a natural spruce top with shallow back, ebony fingerboard with diamond-shaped mother of pearl inlays, an 8 inch crack to the top, neck repaired, two cracks to binding around sound hole”.

In addition to the guitar, the winning bidder also received an accompanying notarized letter from Benji Levy’s son Johnathan Olsen.

Marley who wrote many of his Survival album tracks using the guitar before it was damaged, later replaced the instrument with a newer model Ovation guitar.

In January, Marley’s Washburn 22- Series Hawk guitar, said to be one of the Reggae legend’s favourites, was ranked as the fifth most expensive guitar in the world.

Valued at US$1.2 million, the instrument was also proclaimed a national asset by the Government of Jamaica and was said to be one of only seven known guitars owned by the music icon.

At the time of Marley’s death in 1981 at age 36, the Jamaican government led by then Prime Minister Edward Seaga declared most of the St. Ann native’s assets, including the Washburn, as national treasures.

Images of Bob with his other guitars, the acoustic or Gibson Les Paul rhythm guitar, with which he is said to have been buried along with his football and a stalk of ganja, have been hallowed by a plethora of photographers, artists and sculptors.

The Trench Town Rock singer is also said to have also owned a 1070s Fender Stratocaster and a Yamaha SG1000, which he played during his final tour with The Wailers’ in 1979 and later gifted to the band’s bassist, Aston Barrett.

Marley also owned several other acoustic guitars including an Ovation Adamas, which is best known from the acoustic recording of Redemption Song.  He was also the owner of a 1972 Guild 12-string which can be heard on the studio recordings of Time Will Tell and Is This Love.