In celebration of its 20th anniversary as the leading rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia auction house, Julien’s Auctions kicked off “The Collection Of Dusty Hill Of ZZ Top” Thursday, December 7, with a spectacular first evening sale presentation of the rock icon’s one-of-a-kind instruments, custom made western style wardrobe worn on stage and in appearances, gear, signature style items such as his favorite cowboy hats, boots and buckles, memorabilia and more from his groundbreaking five-decade career coming directly from Dusty Hill‘s personal collection. The opening night featured more than 1,100 bids on 49 lots from bidders hailing from all over the globe, including Australia, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and more.

The first evening session’s top auction headliner was the sale of Hill‘s signature 1953 Fender Precision bass guitar, the most played instrument by Hill out of all the guitars in this collection which sold for $393,700, nearly three times the pre-sale high estimate after a nearly seven-minute bidding battle (estimate: $80,000-$120,000). The bass was heavily used by Hill and served as his go-to stage guitar for numerous ZZ TOP live performances and in the studio until Dusty retired the bass in 2012.