Metropolitan Museum of Art announced in May that they had gathered a collection of 500 guitars, and it has been revealed, one of the many guitar donations turns out to be a stolen Rolling Stones guitar.
The guitar was one of the many items that was reportedly stolen from the Stones during their making of 'Exile on Main St.' Whilst the band were recording the album they rented a mansion in France, Villa Nellcôte, the Côte d'Azur. It has been stated that the mansion was burgaled by local drug dealers as Keith Richards owed them a sum of money. Nine guitars, a saxaphone belonging to Bobby Keys and Bill Wymans bass were all reported as missing.
A stones fan and rock expert said about the burglary "Villa Nellcôte was such an open house that, one day in September 1971, burglars walked out of the front gate with nine of Richards’ guitars, Bobby Keys’ saxophone and Bill Wyman’s bass in broad daylight . . .The crime was reputedly carried out by dealers from Marseille who were owed money by Richards."
Marlies Damming, buisness manager of Mick Taylor, said in a statement to pagesix.ie that “There are numerous photos of Mick Taylor playing this Les Paul, as it was his main guitar until it disappeared. The interesting thing about these vintage Les Pauls, is that they are renowned for their flaming . . . which is unique, like a fingerprint.
A source also stated that, Taylor never recieved compensation for for the theft and that he is mystified as to how his guitar found its way into Met's collection in New York.
The 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul, was first played by Richards during their performance on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. Richards later sold the guitar to Taylors when he was 18 years old and joining John Mayall and the Bluesbreaker as a replacement for Peter Green. Taylor joined the Stones after the band decided to fire Brian Jones in 1969.
