- Johnny Hallyday’s very first guitar, an Italian Eko from the early 1960s, sold for €9,300 at the Hôtel des ventes Tourny in Bordeaux on Sunday, 21 June 2026.
- The instrument had been given in 1963 to Marcel Duclos, 16, winner of a contest run by “Ciné-Music Magazine”.
- The lot included a handwritten, signed letter from Johnny Hallyday and the original press clipping, which authenticated the whole set.
- Bidding, which opened at €6,000, climbed for about twelve minutes before being won by an anonymous online bidder.
Here at Woodbrass, we’ve got a real soft spot for vintage gear, and some auctions make us raise an eyebrow more than others. The one that just took place in Bordeaux is a perfect example: Johnny Hallyday’s very first guitar, an Italian Eko barely bigger than a keepsake from his youth, went for 9,300 euros. Not just for its sound, but above all for the incredible story it’s carried since 1963, and for a fact that’s often overlooked: the future “idol of the young” started out on this modest brand before becoming the star we all know. Here’s the full story: the sale, the estimate, and above all the tale that pushed the bidding well beyond what you’d expect for a simple vintage guitar.
Why this Eko really is Johnny Hallyday’s first guitar
The sale took place at the Hôtel des ventes Tourny in Bordeaux on Sunday, 21 June 2026. One lot in the catalogue in particular caught the eye of collectors and Johnny Hallyday fans: his very first guitar, an Eko, the Italian maker well known in the sixties, the very model he played before becoming the star we know today.
The auctioneer’s initial estimate ranged between €8,000 and €10,000. Bidding opened at €6,000 and climbed for about twelve minutes before the hammer came down at €9,300, a figure that ultimately landed within the announced range. It was an online bidder, whose identity remains unknown, who walked away with the piece.
Eko is an Italian brand founded in the late 1950s, hugely popular across Europe in the sixties for its affordable electric and acoustic guitars. Plenty of young musicians of the era, Johnny Hallyday among them in his early days, learned or played on this type of instrument.
1963: a contest, a 16-year-old teenager, and a gift from Johnny Hallyday
What turns an ordinary vintage guitar into a €9,300 piece is its story. In 1963, the magazine “Ciné-Music Magazine” ran a contest among its readers. The winner: Marcel Duclos, a 16-year-old from Châteaubourg in Brittany, who had just returned from Algeria.
In his entry letter, the young boy explained that he’d had to sell his uncle’s guitar for lack of money after coming back to France. A story that clearly moved Johnny Hallyday himself, since the singer personally chose this letter out of all the entries.
- Johnny Hallyday then gave his own Eko guitar to young Marcel Duclos.
- He included a handwritten, signed letter, in which he wished him “as much success” as his own.
- Marcel Duclos kept the guitar and the letter for the rest of his life, until his heirs decided to put them up for sale.
In the auction world, what really drives up prices is documented provenance: letters, photos, invoices, or period press clippings.
Why items linked to Johnny Hallyday keep selling for eye-watering sums
Since the singer’s death in 2017, sales of items linked to Johnny Hallyday have kept multiplying, regularly drawing bidders well beyond the initial estimates. Guitars, stage jackets, signed records, or personal letters: every authenticated piece becomes a fragment of the collective memory of a central figure in French popular music.
This Bordeaux sale is a perfect illustration of that phenomenon: the lot wasn’t just a vintage guitar, but proof of a personal gesture from the singer toward an anonymous fan, at a time when his own career was only just taking off.
Do you own an instrument with a story of its own? Hold on to every document that comes with it (invoice, letter, photo, dedication). That’s often what turns a simple instrument into a sought-after collector’s item.
Key takeaways from this historic sale
In the end, this Johnny Hallyday guitar, sold for €9,300 in Bordeaux, isn’t just another curiosity in the world of music auctions: it’s a reminder that an instrument can become the witness to a powerful human story. A 16-year-old teenager, a contest, a spontaneous gesture from the future “idol of the young”… sixty years on, this Eko still moves fans far beyond its value as an instrument.
