“Page must be mental giving away such a terrific guitar as this”: 50 years ago, Jimmy Page gave a guitar away for free in a magazine competition – now it's expected to fetch over $67,000 at auction

An electric guitar that was given away by Jimmy Page as a competition prize over 50 years ago could fetch over $67,000 (£50,000) at auction.

The 1957 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 was bought by Page in Nashville for £200 in 1972, as per a cover interview with the New Musical Express – the magazine that first ran the competition. The guitar was won by Charles Reid of Hornsey, North London, after correctly matching six guitars with the famous guitar players who owned them.

Back then, Reid was quoted as saying (as per The Independent), “Page must be mental giving away such a terrific guitar as this. It’s the kind of instrument that every guitar player dreams of owning but can never really afford.”

Reid kept the guitar until September 1990 and later went on to sell it to Phil O’Donoghue – a guitarist in a ’70s band called Wild Angels – for £2,000. O’Donoghue kept the prized instrument until his death earlier this year, and it's now being sold by his family.

Considering its Page connection, the Gretsch is expected to sell for anywhere between $40,359 and $67,265 (£30,000 and £50,000) when it's auctioned off on September 9.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that Jimmy Page is a legendary guitarist and rock star," comments auctioneer Luke Hobbs from Gardiner Houlgate, the auction house in charge of the sale.

“Very few of his guitars come up for auction, and when they do, they attract huge interest from collectors, investors, and fans of Led Zeppelin.

"What’s so wonderful about this guitar is that we have the copies of the New Musical Express showing the competition and even a photo of Page giving the guitar to the winner, Charles Reid.”

Speaking of Jimmy Page, the Led Zeppelin guitarist recently announced the Sundragon Nymph, the boutique, Page-co-founded brand’s smallest-footprint, low-wattage combo.