eBay Auction of Madonna Guitar Creates News Stir

It's hard to say what's more interesting, the fact that the guitar played by Madonna on her 2001 Drowned World tour will appear in an eBay auction starting October 6, 2006, or the amount of press this fact has garnered. Pierce Jensen (who, like the guitar's current owner Jensen will represent in the auction, lives in Sonora, California) operates a retro-style website from which you can purchase the John Henry of celebrities such as Pat Priest (we know her as Marilyn Munster from The Munsters, Pierce Jensen knows her as mom), Carol Lynley and other names that may not ring a bell. He also seems to have a thriving eBay business selling odds and ends ranging from old coins to Al Lewis (Grandpa from the The Munsters) trading cards.

But since the September 14, 2006, publication of his press release announcing the upcoming eBay auction of the Madonna guitar, Jensen has garnered press attention from afar afield as China. Of course, the auction story is not without hooks: "one-of-a-kind" celebrity owned and played guitar; autographed; apparently convincing provenance; and the unfortunate circumstances of the guitar's owner, who suffered loss from hurricane Katrina. But with a starting price of $49,999 and a claimed "appraised value" of $400,000-600,000, it may be an auction in need of hooks. For more information, visit Jensen's retro "preview" page.

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