Elvis Presley’s ‘comeback’ Hagstrom Viking II is going up for auction
The starting price has been set at $250,000.
Image: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Elvis Presley fans will have a chance of owning one of his most iconic guitars as his Hagstrom Viking II, which appeared in the 1968 Comeback Special, goes up for auction later this month.
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The cherry-red semihollow guitar is going under the hammer at Kruse GWS Auctions’ Artifacts of Hollywood & Music auction, which begins on 27 March. The Hagstrom has a starting bid of $250,000.
The King famously used the Hagstrom in the Comeback Special that was nationally broadcast in the US, after he had spent about seven years in the movie industry. The guitar also made an appearance on the cover of Presley’s 1969 album, From Elvis In Memphis, as well as in a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame exhibition.
While the exact specs of Presley’s guitar are unclear, vintage Hagstrom Viking II models from the same period had a maple top and neck, a laminated maple body, a rosewood fingerboard, two stock humbuckers, and a lyre tailpiece.
Hagstrom is currently selling a reissue of the 60s classic. Dubbed the ’67 Viking II, the reissue model bears many similar specs as the original, save for a pair of newly designed H-52 mini-humbuckers.
In August 2020, one of Elvis’ other prized guitars, the ‘Sun Sessions’ Martin D-18, sold at auction for $1.3 million. The guitar had failed to meet the auctioneer’s $2 million estimate.
