How Much Is the Jim Irsay Collection Worth?

Most people know Jim Irsay, who passed away on May 21, as that legendary NFL team owner and CEO who lived and breathed football. He spent decades trying to improve the Indianapolis Colts, the franchise he inherited from his father, who purchased it over half a century ago. When Irsay wasn’t doing football business, he had another passion that defined him just as much: collecting guitars.

Isray not just collected guitars, but preserved them in pristine condition in his one-of-a-kind collection: The Jim Irsay Collection. A massive fan of rock ‘n’ roll, Isray was trying to keep the spirit of America’s music history alive through his collection.

He never stashed these artifacts away as well, and proudly displayed them for the public, loaned them to museums, and even let members of his Jim Irsay Band play them from time to time. Needless to say, the collection has some historic instruments.

Just to give you an idea of how impressive the collection is, it includes Kurt Cobain’s 1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar, which Irsay bought in 2022 for a whopping $5 million, and a Jackie Robinson home run bat. And now, it looks like much of that legendary collection, along with other memorabilia Irsay gathered over the years, is about to go up for sale.

According to reports, Christie’s will hold the auction starting next March. It’s still unclear which items will hit the block, as the family plans to keep a few special pieces in their possession.

Talking about the highlights, Jerry Garcia’s ‘Tiger’ guitar stands out the most, which Irsay snagged in 2002 for $957,000. Then there’s Bob Dylan’s 1964 Fender Stratocaster, which he purchased for $965,000, the highest price ever paid for a guitar back in 2013.

Of course, Irsay later broke that record himself when he bought David Gilmour’s iconic. ‘The Black Strat’, for nearly $4 million. Add to that Cobain’s Fender Mustang, valued at $4.55 million, and you start to see why this collection is historic.

Eric Clapton’s ‘The Fool’, his 1964 Gibson SG, is also part of the stash, which sold for over $1 million. And there are even guitars once owned by The Beatles. Crazy!

But Irsay’s interests stretched beyond music. Among his other prized possessions were Muhammad Ali’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ championship belt (bought for $6.8 million), the saddle used for Secretariat’s Triple Crown run, and a more-than-200-year-old copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Put these all together, and the total value easily soars into the hundreds of millions. Irsay once revealed that someone had offered him a staggering billion dollars for the entire collection. But he wasn’t ready to part with it.

Now, the time has finally come. His daughters, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt, and Kalen Jackson, have decided to put select items up for auction, saying the decision wasn’t easy.

“This decision was not made lightly, but with deep reflection and love for the legacy he built,” the Irsay daughters said in a statement on Thursday.

“Our dad was a passionate collector, driven not by possession, but by a profound appreciation for the beauty, history, and cultural resonance of the items he curated. From iconic instruments to handwritten lyrics by legends to rare historical artifacts and documents, each piece in the collection tells a story… and he was always so excited to share those stories with the world,” they added.

It’s not a stretch to expect the collection to rack up close to $800-900 million. We’re estimating that range because the items are being sold individually, whereas that $1 billion offer came from just one person.

Still, this is only a rough estimate, a prediction rather. The final price will depend on which items go up for grabs. The ones we mentioned are barely scratching the surface, as Irsay even owns three of Kurt Cobain’s top guitars ever sold. Notably, a portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to charity.