€1 million For Rory Gallagher's Guitar . . . Or For Donal Gallagher's Lifestyle ?

9. When the core relic of a legendary person is put up for sale by public auction with a guide price of €1 million, the question that has to be asked is how and why has it come to this ?
I’m guessing he’s not a young man now and he has a chance of monetising the value of an asset he’s held for nearly 30 years and to reap the benefit within his own lifetime.

Looking at it logically, he can either sell the guitar himself and enjoy the fruits, or leave it to the next generation who will promptly sell it and enjoy the fruits instead.

Someone’s going to cash in at some stage. Might as well be the brother.
 
I didn’t read all the posts on this thread - forgive me if this was already given. I’ve seen businesses and museums pay exhorbitant amounts for some crazy modern art-work that a trained seal could easily paint or some lady exhibiting some clothes she bought in charity shops to become the best dressed lady at Limerick Junction Races. Apparently, you need a story to go with whatever item.

Rory Gallagher’s strat was first purchased by a showband three chord trick musician. He didn’t like it and returned it to the music shop in Cork. Rory Gallagher bought it second-hand, lost it along the way and somehow it was returned to him.

So, it’s now for sale for a million - somebody buy it fast; it’s a bargain, believe me! Could be a good investment now for an Aer Lingus captain?
 
Last edited:
Can we take it that the @Leper is not a lover of modern art?

At one stage Monet and Cezanne were though of as being as off the wall as your Seal painting but it was part of a journey that involved people like Picasso and Van Gough and Pollok.

The same sort of thread runs from roots and Irish and Scottish folk and Bluegrass through to Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Louis and Elvis etc all the way to Rory Gallagher and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and beyond (not to mention all the Black musicians that really started Rock and Roll).

 
one stage Monet and Cezanne were though of as being as off the wall as your Seal painting but it was part of a journey that involved people like Picasso and Van Gough and Pollok.
I think he is talking about the Jeff goons balloon dog or formaldehyde dead animals in case stuff, that's just a fraud. It's a bit like crypto, because so many others are prepared to pay huge money for it, it commands a price. There was a good documentary about the modern art market, how it nearly collapsed during financial crash but so many art dealers, museums and art buyers have a vested interest in keeping it all going. Therefore they all have to talk it up and also go and pay huge money for these pieces or else the value of their existing art will fall

As for Rory Gallagher guitar, it's worth way more now than it was 20 years ago but probably won't be worth 700K in 20 years time because Gallagher will then be too long gone. Bit like the classic car market it's the 80s cars that are making the big money whereas the 50s and 60s cars have passed their peak and have fallen back in value
 
Last edited:
I wonder will Rory's guitar go the way of the Balloon Dog; increase massively in price and then get broken.
 
Rory Gallagher’s strat was first purchased by a showband three chord trick musician.

Hold on there, boy.

Quite a few great guitarists cut their teeth in showbands. There was no other gig available to them. Jim Conlon (incidentally, a CPA) must have had some sensibility that he went out and paid his own money to buy the Strat when touring in New York. Jimmy Smyth (regarded as Ireland's #1 guitarist by none other than Rory Gallagher himself) was in showbands since his teens before becoming a rock musician and session player of renown. Henry McCullough likewise. Let's have a bit of respect, please.
 
And what the hell kind of spelling is this, Purple ?

It's Van Gogh and Pollock, you pillock !
Charming.

It’s a combination or typing on my phone and me being dyslexic.
Did it take away from the point I made or make you understand it less?
 
Last edited:
Did it take away from the point I made or make you understand it less?

Enhanced it if anything, Purple - the common resort to hyperbole in Irish debate was more strongly coloured still by your juxtaposition of a brace of artistic genii of doubtful sanity and sobriety.

I suppose there's no need to wish you a glorious weekend of leisure.
 
how much will the guitar make though I struggle to see how it could make 700K + , maybe such a huge price is there to generate media interest in the story, Ive never heard Rory Gallagher discussed on Joe Duffy liveline before or anything to do with Rory Gallagher generating such interest? He generally had and has a fierce loyal fan base but was never mainstream, albeit some of that fan base are mega wealthy rock stars like brian may and slash
 
Jimi Hendrix played in the US equivalents of show bands for years before being recognized as a mega-star.
 
Am I missing something here or why do people actually care where the money for the guitar actually ends up.? If Donal Gallagher can find someone daft enough to pay €1m for a guitar from an artist who the vast majority of people have never actually heard of (and that is the harsh truth) and therefore in 30 years time will probably only be worth a fraction of the price now, good for him.
 

Well, the missing part is that Donal Gallagher (and his wife and family) has enjoyed a good 40+ years of the good life on the back of his brother not having any partner or children of his own. It is a lifestyle that removes the otherwise necessary need to earn his own living and build a reputation based on personal achievements rather than by association with famous relatives.

I think most people looking at the Donal Gallagher lifestyle of "darling society" social events, gallery patronages, Fulham residences, stylish clothes and so on would be inclined to think that he could have spared the dead man's musical instruments from sale and donated them to a suitable museum in Ireland.

Yes, this is a moral or sentimental viewpoint, not - so far at least - a legal one. But one that is shared by quite a few people.
 
How is that different from anyone else who, by the lottery of life, is born into a fortunate situation?

Yes, this is a moral or sentimental viewpoint, not - so far at least - a legal one. But one that is shared by quite a few people.
I can't help but feel you are personally connected to this in some way and there's a bit of grudgery going on. You are obviously entitled to your opinion, but as you have mentioned there is a legal side to this and unless you want to suggest a change to private property rights, I think you should just move on to be honest.
 
So what? It’s the way the cards were dealt. Get over it. You seem jealous of the life he’s had.
Couple of things.

1. There is no suitable museum
2. Even if there were, why would he give up a million euro so some randomers could look at it in a glass case?
3. You seem to have a unnatural interest in Donal Gallagher’s lifestyle
Yes, this is a moral or sentimental viewpoint, not - so far at least - a legal one. But one that is shared by quite a few people.
Nobody else on this thread