“One of the most significant artefacts in rock music history”: Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Martin D-18E – the world’s most expensive guitar – has been donated to the Royal College of Music London

Kurt Cobain’s legendary MTV Unplugged Martin – “one of the most significant artefacts in rock music history”– has been donated to the Royal College of Music (RCM), London, for public display.

The world’s most expensive guitar, bought by RØDE Microphones founder Peter Freedman for a staggering $6,010,000 in 2020, was immortalized by Nirvana’s unplugged performance.

The guitar arrives in London in good company; the college’s museum also hosts the oldest surviving guitar in existence, which was made in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1581. That’s 412 years before Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged show.

An international touring exhibition, featuring the Martin, is slated for 2026. It follows the success of the RCM Museum’s show, Kurt Cobain: Unplugged. It welcomed more than 15,000 visitors, with the D-18E its big pull.

Freedman says he hopes “the guitar’s value and profile will benefit young musicians at the RCM and reach people around the world.”

“This gift is dedicated to my father Henry, who loved music and London, and it’s an honour for me to support the next generation of musicians,” he adds.

“The Royal College of Music is deeply grateful to Peter Freedman for his incredible generosity,” says Director of the Royal College of Music, James Williams.

“This asset opens future opportunities to share the Kurt Cobain: Unplugged exhibition with an international audience; it is also emblematic of Peter’s unstinting support for the performing arts and his steadfast belief in the power of education to transform lives.”

The electro-acoustic guitar was modified to cater to Cobain’s southpaw playing. His daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, inherited the guitar and stored it in a Seattle vault.

In 2018, it was transferred to Isaiah Silva, who claimed ownership of the acoustic during a divorce settlement when splitting with Frances Bean, leading to its record-breaking sale two years later.

A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He’s also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.