There are objects that hold music inside them — not just as memory, but as feeling. A tambourine signed by Stevie Nicks. The original artwork for Rumours, one of the most emotionally charged albums ever made. Speaker cabinets engineered by Owsley Stanley to carry the Grateful Dead's sound across fields and into something close to the sacred. And one of Keith Moon's drums from the night The Who detonated a television set and rewrote what a live performance could be. These aren't just collectibles. They are, as Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony Curtis puts it, relics — in the most literal, most reverential sense of the word.
Sotheby's upcoming Rock and Pop sale brings together some of the most storied artifacts in the history of recorded music, each one inseparable from the moment, the myth, and the musicians who made it matter. Whether you grew up on Fleetwood Mac or came to the Grateful Dead through a friend's vinyl copy at 2am, these pieces carry a charge that doesn't diminish with time. If anything, it deepens.
Sotheby's New York is delighted to present these highlights from Rock & Pop, an online auction celebrating the most storied artifacts in rock and roll history. The online sale is open for bidding on Sotheby's website from April 9-13, 2026. Check out these highlights and more, on view from April 13-20, 2026 at the historic Breuer building in New York.
