Rock ‘n’ roll rarities go under the hammer

Music lovers will have a chance to own a piece of musical history with items signed by The Rolling Stones and KISS among a “rare collection” to be auctioned online.

Queensland-based auction house Lloyds Auctioneers is putting up for sale more than 70 items including electric guitars signed by the Stones and heavy metal band Anthrax and a drum cover signed by Eric Beecher of KISS.

The items are unique because they were collected over a lifetime by an owner who has died, Lloyds Auctioneers chief operations officer Lee Hames said.

“When we got the initial call from the custodian’s daughters … they wanted to honour the collection and its history,” he told AAP.

“They told stories of the custodian travelling around the world with his photography equipment, going to the concerts and collecting all of this amazing stuff.”

While the history of each item is not fully known, Mr Hames said some could attract bids above $10,000. Anyone worldwide can bid in the auction. 

“It’s up to the bidders to do their due diligence and a little bit of research to work out exactly the history behind some of these items,” he said.

“There’s so many big names in the auction so that will really depend on who has the strongest emotional attachment.”

For those thinking of placing a bid, Mr Hames suggested deciding on a limit so people didn’t enter into emotional bidding wars.

“You want to know what you’re prepared to pay and place that as your maximum bid. That way if you win, then you’re happy.

“If it goes over, you won’t be emotional with the bidding process so you’re happy to walk away.”

Mr Hames said lifetime collections were becoming few and far between, and it was a rare opportunity to own a piece of a collection that might not have ordinarily come to the market.

“As with every rare lifetime collection, there’ll be some gems in there for sure.”

The items will go under the hammer on Monday.