Eric Clapton Sells Over 70 Guitars at Charity Auction

Guitarist raised $2.15 million for his rehab center in Antigua



Eric Clapton has sold more than 70 of his instruments and amplifiers, along with other ephemera such as the Gianni Versace suit that he wore at a 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, at a charity auction in New York. Overall, Clapton raised more than $2.15 million for the Crossroads Center, a drug and alcohol rehab facility in Antigua that he co-founded in 1998.

The top-selling item at the auction was a 1948 Gibson hollow body guitar that went for $83,000, far above its estimated value of $30,000. A replica of "Blackie," the guitarist's famous Fender Statocaster, was sold for just over $30,000.