Christie's Kerry Keane Tempts Imus With Country Music Items

Talking to Kerry Keane was a real treat for Imus, as Keane, the international head of the musical instrument department for Christie's auction house, promoted Christie's first ever sale dedicated to the creation, history, and evolution of country music.

"It spans a history of country music," said Keane about the sale, set for December 3. "We've gone as far back as Roy Rogers and Sons of the Pioneers, right up to Rodney Crowell."

Two of Crowell's Gibson guitars will be auctioned off next week, and Imus wondered what his own Gibson — a J-45 autographed by Johnny Cash — might be worth.

"We're going to look for originality, we're going to look for provenance, and we're going to look for performance history," said Keane. Two Johnny Cash guitars are on the docket for December 3, one from the 1970s and another with "very deep" provenance, according to Keane, that is valued at $40-60,000.

As for Imus's guitar, Keane said a signature does not add much to the value of an instrument if the artist never played it. But Imus had already moved on to something else: a group of all five Elvis Presley original Sun Records released from 1954-55. They are "conservatively" estimated at $2-3000, Keane provided.

"I'll give you $5,000 for them right now," said Imus, who was instructed by Keane to come down to Christie's with a paddle in his hand next Thursday.

Also up for grabs is Buddy Holly's first guitar, an instrument with such history that Keane said it sends shivers up his spine.

"Buddy played this guitar on stage with Elvis as a pickup man in Lubbock when Elvis first came to Lubbock and played there," said Keane. "He went home and remembered Elvis had this wonderful Martin with a leather sheath on it that was hand-tooled. Buddy was very well-versed at hand leatherwork himself. He made his own leather sheath for it, sewed it up, carved the leather, it has this wonderful polychrome decoration on it."

The guitar, a 1942 Gibson J-45, had sold in 1987 at public auction for around $275,000. Keane predicts it will go for nearly half a million dollars next week.

Two Waylon Jennings guitars will be up for sale, along with a slew of Nudie suits that belonged to Roy Rogers, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, and Porter Wagoner.

"It's wonderful performance wear," Keane said of the gaudy Nudie suits. "This is where the country musicians really, shall we say, shined — that sparkle and twang."

Back to the Elvis records, Imus was determined to get his grubby paws on them before Keane left. "Why can't we make a deal, like when you get off the air here before you leave, and just not say anything to anybody?" he begged, but to no avail.

-Julie Kanfer