The ultra-rich have a new preferred status symbol: Rare collectibles, ranging from a $14.5 million guitar to an $812,500 bottle of wine, are surging

(SeaPRwire) –   John Kapon was aware that the 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti bottle available at his New York-based wine seller’s auction last month would perform strongly. After all, it was among just 600 bottles of that burgundy made in 1945—a year historically significant as the end of World War II—and is regarded as one of the finest vintages ever produced.

Even so, it came as a bit of a surprise when the bottle fetched $812,500—shattering the previous world record for an auctioned wine bottle by almost 50% compared to the price the same bottle had commanded in 2018. “Scarcity is the real driver here,” Kapon notes. “For truly rare, ancient wines that are among the best, people don’t mind how much they spend.”

Wine isn’t the only collectible category experiencing a value spike at auctions. Last month, a 1969 black Fender Stratocaster—used by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on the band’s most legendary albums like “Dark Side of the Moon”—sold for $14.55 million at a Christie’s auction. This was more than twice the $6 million record set in 2020 for a guitar: a 1959 Martin D-18E played by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s “MTV Unplugged” show decades prior. Just weeks before that, a rare Pokémon Pikachu Illustrator card (one of only 29 made for a 1990s contest) was sold by influencer and wrestler Logan Paul for $16.5 million—three times what he paid for it in 2021.

All these items share two key traits: extreme rarity and a compelling story. For the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Kapon estimates that as time goes by, fewer bottles remain available—maybe just a small number are left.

Acker’s Fine and Rare Index— which monitors a sample of 100 top auctioned wines—climbed 11% in the first quarter of the year, one of the sharpest increases Kapon has observed in 25 years. Other collectibles are also booming at the high end: TCGplayer, an eBay-owned platform for all types of trading cards, reported double- and triple-digit gains for many rare cards in 2025. Meanwhile, Reverb, an online music instrument marketplace, found that in 2025, the value of various high-quality vintage instruments (not just the headline-making multimillion-dollar ones) rose by 10% to 30% over the previous year, with rarer models seeing the largest hikes. This unique collectibles market contrasts with the slower art market: The latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report noted the sector grew by a modest 4% last year, following a few years of decline.

Collecting valuable, unique items is hardly a new trend. And rarity isn’t the only factor pushing up auction prices—often, a story turns an item into something one-of-a-kind and thus valuable. Regarding Gilmour’s guitar, Christie’s Nathalie Ferneau said: “It became this almost mythical holy grail.” The instrument was part of a Christie’s auction featuring the collection of Jim Irsay, a billionaire former owner of the Indiana Colts football team. The auction generated over $84 million from 44 items, setting 23 world records.

Gilmour himself modified the guitar—changing its neck several times and drilling holes in it. Normally, such alterations would lower an instrument’s value, but not here: the changes prove Gilmour customized it to achieve the sound he wanted for those classic albums. “For a die-hard fan, that makes it even more desirable,” Ferneau adds.

As for the Pokémon card, much of its value came from its immaculate, original condition, verified by an authentication service. Paul also boosted its appeal by selling it in a custom necklace he’d worn and offering to hand-deliver it to the buyer.

Not all valuable collectibles are intended to be displayed or resold. Wine, for instance, is meant to be drunk. Similarly, guitar collectors enjoy gathering with friends to play their treasured instruments instead of treating a million-dollar guitar like a Monet painting. “It’s a fantastic conversation starter,” says Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, which sold the first guitar to hit the $1 million mark in 2015.

Another potential reason for the collectibles boom: Truly unique pieces let the ultra-wealthy stand out in a world of generic high-end goods. “Traditional luxury items are losing their appeal,” says Silvia Bellezza, a Columbia Business School marketing professor and former LVMH executive. “The top 1% are moving away from these goods—so what’s next? They won’t stop showing off; they’ll just do it in a more refined manner.”