Kurt Cobain's 'MTV Unplugged' guitar up for auction

May 11 (UPI) -- Julien's auction house has listed the guitar Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain played in the band's 1993 MTV Unplugged performance for auction next month.

The 1959 Martin D-18E guitar is set for auction June 19 and 20.

The guitar will be part of Julien's "Music Icons" auction at Julien's Beverly Hills location and online. From May 15 to 31, the guitar will be viewable at the Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly Circus and from June 15 to 19 at Julien's.

A pioneer of the grunge music movement in the '90s, Nirvana gave an acoustic performance for MTV on Nov. 18, 1993. The album of the performance, Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York, was released Nov. 1, 1994.

The album's acoustic performance of "About a Girl" became a bigger hit single than the electric version on Nirvana's first album, Bleach. Cobain died by suicide on April 5, 1994.

Julien's says Cobain bought the guitar at Voltage Guitar in Los Angeles. The instrument and case, offered together in this auction, were customized for Cobain before the MTV performance. The auction also includes three Dunlop guitar picks, Cobain's half-used set of Martin & Co. guitar strings, a flyer for Poison Idea's album Feel the Darkness, three baggage claim stubs and Cobain's "stash bag" with silver spoon, knife and fork.

Prior to the MTV Unplugged in New York album, Nirvana released the albums Nevermind, In Utero, Incesticide and Bleach. Their hit songs include "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Heart Shaped Box" and "Come As You Are."

Other Nirvana items up for auction include the remains of a guitar Cobain smashed in concert, the shirt Cobain wore in the "Heart Shaped Box" video, a signed Bleach CD, a typed set list for MTV Unplugged in New York, lyric sheets, handwritten lyrics to "Oh Me," correspondence from Nirvana's management company and an issue of their Lowest Common Denominator newsletter.