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4d ago

Mick Taylor Presses Met for Access to Disputed 1959 Gibson Les Paul

Taylor’s legal team has formally requested access for authentication following his claim that the guitar was stolen from him in 1971.

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

  • Taylor alleges the sunburst 1959 Gibson Les Paul in the Met’s collection is the very instrument taken during the 1971 Villa Nellcôte burglary and has sought independent expert examination.
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art has not responded to Taylor’s legal requests for inspection and maintains its provenance records show no period of ownership by him.
  • Known as the “Keithburst,” the guitar was first played by Keith Richards on the Rolling Stones’ 1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearance and later purchased by Taylor from road manager Ian Stewart.
  • Billionaire collector Dirk Ziff donated the disputed Les Paul to the Met in May 2025 as part of a 500-guitar gift that lent the museum its new American guitar gallery.
  • The standoff highlights heightened scrutiny of museum provenance practices and growing legal challenges over restitution of cultural artifacts.