A striking Manchester City blue Epiphone guitar once belonging to Oasis legend Noel Gallagher has fetched a remarkable £12,000 at a recent auction in Worcestershire reports the BBC.
Handled by Littleton Auctions, the instrument was part of a major collection put up for sale by the son of Huw Richards, who served as a front-of-house sound engineer for the iconic Britpop band. Crafted in 1997, the limited-edition guitar is believed to be one of just five identical instruments gifted to Gallagher by the manufacturer before eventually being passed on to Richards.
The auction featured a treasure trove of music history. Another standout piece from the Richards collection—a set of 11 framed platinum discs presented by Creation Records to celebrate UK sales exceeding 3.3 million copies of (What's the Story) Morning Glory?—sold for £2,000. Additionally, a Kangol rain jacket made for touring personnel brought in £2,000, while tour itineraries, promotional materials, and a Be Here Now wristwatch also found buyers.
Other sellers capitalised on the demand for Oasis memorabilia. A rare original concert ticket for The Rain—the precursor band to Oasis—sold for £2,400, and an early demo tape commanded £3,600. A collection of vintage early photos fetched £5,400, and a pair of leather shoes once owned by Noel Gallagher went for £1,200. However, not every high-ticket item found a buyer; a baby grand piano featured in the artwork for the Supersonic single, valued between £100,000 and £150,000, ultimately failed to sell.
The event was notably overshadowed by a major legal development. A trove of unheard Oasis recordings, known as "The Desk Tapes," was pulled from the auction block just last week after the band filed an injunction. Valued between £1.2m and £1.6m, the collection includes 63 live show recordings, soundchecks, and over 100 hours of 1990s rehearsal tapes. Littleton Auctions confirmed the sale of these recordings has been postponed indefinitely while the legal dispute is resolved.
Despite the missing tapes, the auction underscored the enduring global appeal of Oasis memorabilia, drawing intense interest from collectors eager to own a tangible piece of 1990s rock history.
