Elvis Presley 1942 Martin D-18 'Sun Sessions' Guitar
- Maker
- Elvis Presley
- Year
- 1942
- Rank
- 57 of 100
Elvis Presley 1942 Martin D-18 'Sun Sessions' Guitar
Elvis Presley 1942 Martin D-18 'Sun Sessions' Guitar by Elvis Presley (1942) is ranked 57 in the FLOAT 100 for Memorabilia. It sold for $1,320,000 on 3 August 2020. World-record price for any Elvis-owned instrument; the guitar of rock and roll's birth.
What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?
World-record price for any Elvis-owned instrument; the guitar of rock and roll's birth.
Martin D-18 bought by Elvis in 1954; used at Sun Studio and ~145 concerts 1954-56 ('That's All Right', 'Mystery Train')
What is the best-sourced number for it?
- Figure
- $1,320,000
- Kind
- Realized at auction
- Date
- 3 August 2020
Gotta Have Rock and Roll. $1.32M — record for an Elvis instrument.
This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.
How this is made
- The figure
- One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- Why no grade ladder
- Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
- Archive
- 2026-08-08