Last month, Journey's Neal Schon announced that, along with well over 100 other instruments, he would be auctioning off the 1977 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar he used on his band's 1981 mega-hit, "Don’t Stop Believin'."
Now, the auction – held by Heritage Auctions – has closed and the numbers are in. All told, the legendary Les Paul sold for a cool $250,000. It wasn't, however, the most valuable prize of the day, or even the second.
Those particular distinctions went to a pair of Schon's 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standards, which sold for $350,000 and $300,000, respectively. Additionally, two of Schon's '57 Les Pauls – which fetched $131,250 and $121,875 – plus a '58 Les Paul Goldtop and '60 triple-humbucker-equipped Les Paul Custom, also went under the hammer, with the latter two selling for $125,000 and $112,500, respectively.
Other highlights of the enormous auction included the 1974 Guild F-50R acoustic guitar Schon used to write Journey's "Wheel in the Sky" and "Patiently" – which sold for $37,500 – two Gibson ES-335s (1959 and 1960 models, respectively) that were purchased for $137,500 and $100,000, and a 1951 Butterscotch Blonde Fender Telecaster that sold for $112,500.
If all that wasn't enough, there was a 1955 Sunburst Strat that sold for $45,000, a red 1986 Schon NS6 that went for $6,250, and a 2000 PRS solidbody that fetched $12,500.
Despite the day's many sales though, a number of the guitars on offer didn't find buyers, including a 1967 Coral Vincent model and a striking 2005 double-neck PRS Dragon guitar.
To find out more about Schon's remaining unsold guitars (and/or the ones that did find buyers) stop by heritageauctions.com.
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