Eric Clapton auctions off instruments

Eric Clapton raises more than $1.7m after auctioning off instruments.

London: English guitarist Eric Clapton has auctioned off more than 70 of his instruments, and raised more than 1.7 million dollars for his drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.

The auction had taken place at Bonham’s in New York, and the money will be going to 65-year-old Clapton’s rehab in Antigua, which he co-founded, a website reported. A 1948 Gibson hollow body guitar raised the highest price at 83,000 dollars, way above its estimated value of 30,000 dollars. The sale also included amplifiers and a Gianni Versace suit made for Clapton’s 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Another of the guitars sold was a replica of Clapton’s famous Fender Stratocaster, known as ‘Blackie’, which raised more than 30,000 dollars. The original was auctioned seven years ago for just under 1 million dollars, making it the most expensive guitar ever sold. Clapton founded the Crossroads Center in Antigua in 1998 after conquering his own addictions to alcohol and heroin. ANI