In what has to be one of the largest and most historic guitar collections to go to auction, 120 instruments from David Gilmour's personal collection went up for sale Thursday at Christie's in New York City, with all of Gilmour's profits being donated to charity. Guitars at the heart of The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and countless Pink Floyd performances and studio sessions were sold, many for historically large amounts.

Included in the sale was the Black Strat—Gilmour's iconic black Fender Stratocaster that has been with him since his earliest days in Pink Floyd. What started as an off-the-shelf '68–'69 Standard was heavily modified throughout his career.

From 1971 forward, it was his main guitar, including on landmark moments like the solo on "Comfortably Numb" and the entirety of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." Final price? $3,975,000. Prior to the sale of the Black Strat, the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction was the "Reach Out to Asia" Stratocaster, signed by the world's biggest rockstars and auctioned off to support victims of the 2004 Tsunami. That guitar garnered $2.7 million when sold in 2005.

Gilmour's white 1954 Fender Stratocaster bears the serial number 0001. And while Fender's factory manager from that early era has said that serial numbers from that time are unreliable, Gilmour's '54 is believed to be a pre-production Stratocaster gifted from Leo Fender himself to country guitarist Rex Gallion.

This 1954 Strat would be a historic instrument whether it passed through Gilmour's hands or not, but once he got it in the late '70s, he famously used it for the rhythm guitar track on "Another Brick In the Wall (Part 2)."

When it sold early in the auction for the price of $1,815,000, it set the new record for the largest amount ever paid for a single artist's Stratocaster at an auction, only to have that new record eclipsed by the sale of the Black Strat hours later. (For comparison, Bob Dylan's Newport Folk Festival Strat sold for $965,000 in 2013.)