A cardigan worn by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s appearance on MTV Unplugged has sold for $334,000 (£260,388) at auction, making it the most expensive sweater to go under the hammer.



The olive green Manhattan brand acrylic and mohair cardigan was sold during Julien’s Auctions’ two-day auction of rock memorabilia at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. The auction house described it as “one of the most famous sweaters in music history”.

Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York was recorded at Sony Music Studios in front of a live audience five months before Cobain killed himself on April 5, 1994.

The album documenting that intimate performance was released four months after his death.

Cobain’s cardigan on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. Photograph: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

A custom Fender guitar built in 1993 that Cobain used during the band’s In Utero tour was also sold, raising $340,000 (£265,066). The turquoise-bodied left-handed guitar had been on display for several years at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Accompanying the guitar was a handwritten letter signed by his wife, Courtney Love Cobain, stating that it was one of Cobain’s favourite instruments.

More than 700 items owned and used by stars including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Queen, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix also featured in the sale, which ran on Friday and Saturday.