Imagine walking into a museum and spotting your long-lost guitar on display… one that vanished more than 50 years ago while you were off being, well, a Rolling Stone.
That’s exactly what’s just happened to Mick Taylor, the former Stones guitarist whose stolen 1959 Gibson Les Paul has randomly resurfaced in the most unexpected place: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The backstory is rock ‘n’ roll gold. This particular Les Paul was originally owned by none other than Keith Richards, who played it on The Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964. Taylor bought it off Keith in ’67, and it became his go-to axe for years.
The guitar has some serious musical mileage too. Before it landed in Taylor’s hands, it was played by a young Jimmy Page during his session musician days, and even subbed-in for Eric Clapton at a Cream gig in ’66 after Slowhand’s own guitar got nicked. Basically, it’s passed through the hands of several legends.
So where did it go? Well, in 1971, while the Stones were holed up at Villa Nellcôte in the South of France recording Exile on Main St, nine guitars – including this one – vanished. The so-called story goes that some local dealers swiped them after Keith failed to cough up for a drug bill (as you do).
Fast-forward to 2025, and the mystery guitar turns up among 500 instruments donated to the Met by billionaire collector Dirk Ziff – a gift the museum called ‘trailblazing’ and ‘transformative.’ (Not wrong.)
Mick Taylor’s manager and partner, Marlies Damming, said she was stunned. “There are numerous photos of Mick playing this Les Paul – it was his main guitar until it disappeared,” she told PageSix. And the real kicker? These vintage Les Pauls are known for their unique flame maple grain – it’s considered a fingerprint. This one wasn’t just some lookalike. It was the one.
Guitar nerds at Guitar Player backed her up, pointing out specific woodgrain markings and custom mods that make it unmistakably Taylor’s.
One insider told PageSix that Taylor never got compensated for the theft and is completely in the dark about how his prized guitar ended up in a glass case in New York.
No word yet on whether Taylor will try to reclaim it, but one thing’s for sure: that guitar’s soaked in more rock history than most people.
