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3w ago

Mick Taylor Demands Inspection of ‘Keithburst’ Guitar as Met Denies Receiving Request

Taylor’s legal team has formally sought an independent inspection of the 1959 Gibson Les Paul to confirm its provenance after the museum said it received no request.

FILE - Mick Jagger, center, Ronnie Wood, left, and Mick Taylor, of British rock band The Rolling Stones, perform on the Pyramid main stage at Glastonbury, England, June 29, 2013. (Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
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FILE - Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones perform before a crowd of nearly 250,000 fans in Hyde Park, London, on July 5, 1969, during a five hour concert. (AP Photo/Peter Kemp, File)
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Overview

  • The 1959 Gibson Les Paul “Keithburst” is prized for its rare sunburst finish and its role in landmark performances by Keith Richards in 1964 and Mick Taylor through 1971.
  • Taylor’s representatives assert he bought the guitar from the Stones’ road manager in 1967 and that it vanished during a 1971 burglary at Villa Nellcôte while recording Exile on Main St.
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art points to continuous provenance records from Richards through owners such as Adrian Miller, Cosmo Verrico and Dirk Ziff, noting its appearance at Christie’s in 2004 and a Met exhibition in 2019.
  • Taylor’s lawyers have formally requested an independent expert inspection of the guitar to verify ownership, and the Met maintains it has received no communication on the matter.
  • The dispute highlights questions about museum acquisition practices, the strength of provenance research and the complexities of repatriating contested cultural artifacts.