NEW YORK (PIX11) — A priceless collection of music, sports, and pop culture history is coming to the city this spring, and it’s all under one roof at Christie’s Rockefeller Center.
Inside Christie’s headquarters at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, specialist Heather Weintraub carefully unrolls Jack Kerouac’s original On the Road scroll, one of the centerpiece items in the upcoming auction of the Jim Irsay Collection.
“We are so excited to be starting 2026 by selling the Jim Irsay Collection,” said Weintraub, a specialist in Books and Manuscripts at Christie’s New York.
Christie’s will offer more than 400 artifacts from the late philanthropist and Indianapolis Colts owner’s private collection when the sale kicks off this March. The Irsay Collection is widely recognized as one of the most extraordinary assemblages of music, sports, film, and literary history ever put together.
“Mr. Irsay was a collector of guitars and pop culture memorabilia, including literature, history, music, sports, and film,” Weintraub explained.
“His collection is just one of the best and one of a kind.”
The free exhibition will give the public a chance to stand inches away from legendary memorabilia from Kurt Cobain’s 1966 Fender Mustang used in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video to David Gilmour’s “Black Strat” and Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger” guitar.
Visitors will also see Muhammad Ali’s championship belt, Sylvester Stallone’s handwritten Rocky script pages, and Beatles instruments, including Ringo Starr’s first Ludwig drum kit, alongside handwritten lyrics from Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney.
“It is just an amazing opportunity to see landmarks of important moments of the 20th century,” Weintraub said. “Whether Kurt Cobain’s guitar or Jack Kerouac’s scroll for On the Road, or Muhammad Ali’s belt from Rumble in the Jungle, just an amazing opportunity to see everything together under one roof.”
For Weintraub and her team, curating this collection has been especially meaningful.
“It’s an exciting collection that I would say was built with a lot of heart and care,” she said.
The free public exhibition runs March 6th through 12th at Christie’s New York headquarters, with a series of sales to follow later in March