Earlier today we announced news of the sale of The 1.5 million dollar Vault Collection of rare guitars. It’s a private collection of guitars compiled over the years by Allans Billy Hydes/AMI Gibson CEO Con Gallin. It’s a collection of limited edition signature guitars and other rarities, some with very personal connections to some of rock music’s most legendary players.
For instance, there’s the Gibson Jimmy Page Signature EDS-1275 Aged Double Neck guitar made famous by Jimmy in the Led Zeppelin days. There were only 26 of these made and Jimmy owns No. #1 himself. The one in the Vault Collection is #26 of those made and is personally signed by Jimmy. There are three other Jimmy Page models in the collection too including No. #8 of only 11 Signature Les Paul Custom Artist Proof models made.
Gibson Australia’s Con Gallin explains the artist connection with guitars such as this. “What happens generally with the Artist models like these, is that because they are made in such limited numbers, the artist gets to sit down and play each and every one of them. I even have photos of Billy Gibbons with his signature guitars from this collection.”
One of the signed Billy Gibbons signature models in the Vault collection is No. #25 of only 50 ‘Pearly Gates’ model Les Pauls. Another guitar with much historical significance but not directly associated with an artist, is a Robot model Les Paul from that line’s very first production run. If you’re a Les Paul fan, the Angus Young SG Standard Aged guitar might float your boat. It’s number #14 of 50. The collection is mainly made up of Gibson and Epiphone guitars, however there are also some other rarities and curios from Fender, Gretsch, and Martin. Unfortunately, the guitars are not being offered for individual sale but as a total collection at the asking price of 1.5 million.
The impetus for the sale of the Vault Collection was a burglary at Gallin’s home where the guitars had been stored. He’d just come home from the launch of Support Act’s Bandwagon appeal, in which his company had donated a car, only to find his house had been broken into. None of the guitars in the collection were stolen but it was enough to make him think that this historic collection might best be in the hands of someone who would treasure them and keep them safe and sound.
“Rock music is the new classical music,” says Gallin of the era which inspired these guitars. “There will never be rock bands like Led Zeppelin again and players like Eric Clapton, they were pioneers. Electronic music is becoming super popular now. You can do so much more now with less latent, you don’t have to be Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon. When they recorded Sgt Peppers on a 4 track, you needed a tremendous amount of talent. Now whatever you can’t do yourself, a machine will do for you. These instruments are what that great music from the past was made on and they have become history. That’s the big attraction here.”
Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick echoes Gallin’s sentiments about the collection. “”Who can deny seeing a Sunburst Les Paul in Jimmy Page’s hands and not feel the power and joy of Led Zeppelin, or imagine the head banging emotions of an image of Slash armed with his ‘Appetite’ Les Paul,” said Kulick. “We can all still hear the shrieks of Beatlemania resonating through Sir Paul McCartney’s Epiphone Texan when he plays ‘Yesterday’. This collection is impressive as a whole, but each of the instruments will stand on its own. Having such a complete representation of amazing guitars available, with some signed and numbered by our heroes, make this offer a complete mind blowing experience for one happy owner.”
As to who in Australia might be able to afford the 1.5 million dollar price tag, Gallin suggests that there are plenty of music loving CEOs out there who would see the collection as a great investment. “Well there is still a lot of money here,” suggests Con. “You always hear of developers and other people who are doing really well. It might be a retiring CEO who cashes in their shares and is looking to invest their money in something. It’s not just a collection for someone who loves guitars, it’s a collection for someone with plenty of money but also wants a great investment. Who knows, someone like Nicole Kidman might want to buy it for her guitar-collecting husband Keith Urban,” he joked.
Gallin sees the timing of announcement of the sale of the Vault Collection as a celebratory move. “What we wanted to do was to finish the year on a high,” explains Con. “We’ve just put more money into Allans to expand the range. The stores are looking great. We are not just there to move boxes and take money, we are in the music business. There are a lot of positive things happening and we thought this would be a nice touch. We are not just people in retail, otherwise I wouldn’t have those guitars to begin with. We are music people and this collection represents music history.”
Interested parties may enquire via email: vault@allansbillyhyde.com.au or call 1300255 267