The story of the signed ‘Taylor Swift guitar’ that was bought at auction and then smashed up appears to have taken another, more heartwarming turn with the news that it’s been flipped on eBay for an even greater sum, with all proceeds going to charity.
To recap, an attendee at last month’s Ellis County Wild Game dinner and charity auction in Texas - later revealed to be a man by the name of Gary Estes - was reported to have purchased the guitar for $4,000.
A viral video then showed him taking a hammer to the instrument, apparently in protest at Swift’s endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election.
Auctioneer Craig Meier would later tell NBC News that it was “just a light-hearted bit of a dig at Taylor for coming out politically and entertainers using their influence to influence politics," while Estes himself said that "There was nothing malicious or anything about it. It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for kids, right?”
To be fair to Estes, he then put his money/smashed guitar where his mouth was and donated the guitar back to the nonprofit organisation, which re-listed it on eBay. This has now sold for $6,650 - more than Estes originally paid for it - and we’re told that proceeds are going “to local kids that need the resources to participate in agriculture educational programs.”
The eBay listing also attempted to put to bed the rumour that the signature on the guitar isn’t actually genuine, explaining that it was “made on an album cover, but later cut into the shape of the pick guard and added to the guitar”. A certificate of authenticity was included to support this claim.
The identity of the eBay buyer hasn’t been revealed, but we can only assume that they’ll take better care of the guitar than its previous owner.
