Musical instruments can have fascinating, even nefarious, histories. Case in point: A guitar that was once supposedly owned by Rolling Stone Mick Taylor was allegedly stolen, It reportedly ended up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. That is according to ledzepnews.com via Page Six.
Videos by Wide Open Country
This Instrument Has Had An Amazing Provenance - And Is Now The Center Of A Controversy
The guitar has an incredible backstory. Per the outlet, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul was formerly owned by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and also by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Furthermore, it was also the property of another Stone, Mick Taylor. He used it in the early 1970s while making the landmark Stones LP, Exile on Main Street.
Now, a thorny controversy is brewing about the choice musical item. "The museum is now facing questions over its decision to accept the guitar in its collection and whether Taylor should be compensated for the theft, or even reunited with his lost instrument."
The Problem With The Guitar Seems To Have Begun In May
Last spring, the museum received a collection of guitars from donor Dirk Ziff. A statement noted that among the instruments was "a 1959 sunburst Les Paul guitar" that Keith Richards played when the Stones were on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s.
Jimmy Page was evidently thrilled. In that same statement, per the outlet, he wrote this. "I would like to take my hat off to the people who have been behind this - and to The Met for its dedication to construct something that is going to be of such great importance for generations to come."
The guitar was reportedly shown in the institution's 2019 "Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll" exhibit.
How The Guitar Got To Mick Taylor
In 1967, Richards sold it to Taylor. Four years later, Taylor was a Rolling Stone. He took the instrument to France, where the band was recording Exile. There, it got stolen. It never found its way back to him.
Someone Close To Taylor Reportedly Said The Met Guitar Is Actually Taylor's
Per the outlet via Page Six, Marlies Damming, Taylor's manager and business partner, weighed in on the issue. He claims that The Met guitar is actually Taylor's. Damming shared, "There are numerous photos of Mick Taylor playing this Les Paul, as it was his main guitar until it disappeared. The interesting thing about these vintage Les Pauls (from the late 1950s), is that they are renowned for their flaming .?.?. which is unique, like a fingerprint."
What happens next to the guitar is still unclear.
