Former Rolling Stones Musician Mick Taylor Claims His Stolen Guitar Is at the Met

The guitarist’s team says he last saw the famous instrument when it vanished 54 years ago. The Met, which received the guitar as part of a recent donation, disputes these claims

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

August 4, 2025

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A few months ago, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it had received a historic gift of more than 500 guitars belonging to some of the 20th century’s most influential artists, including Leo Fender, Mississippi John Hurt and Ponty Gonzalez.

But one guitar in particular has generated a lot of buzz in recent weeks: a 1959 Les Paul that once belonged to the Rolling Stones’ founding member Keith Richards.

Affectionately known as the “Keithburst” guitar, the instrument boasts a mahogany body with a sunburst finish. Richards famously played it during the Stones’ 1964 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and it was later associated with both Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.

“This is truly a trailblazing and transformative gift, positioning the museum to be the epicenter for the appreciation and study of the American guitar,” Max Hollein, the Met’s CEO, says in a statement about the donated collection. “The guitar has been of singular importance to popular music of the past century and was used by musicians across geographic, racial and economic backgrounds. This seminal American object of our time has had a profound impact on global culture, art and society.”

But in recent weeks, the “Keithburst” guitar’s provenance has been called into question. A representative for Mick Taylor, who played for the Stones from 1969 to 1974 and is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, has said that the instrument is rightfully his. He claims to have purchased it from one of the Stones’ tour managers in 1967 and regularly used it over the next several years, according to Guitar World’s Phil Weller.

Taylor’s team claims the guitar was stolen in the summer of 1971, when the Rolling Stones rented a mansion at Villa Nellcôte on the French Riviera and recorded the album Exile on Main St. These sessions were marked by heavy drug use, general chaos and escalating tensions amongst some of the band members. When the theft occurred in broad daylight, the band members didn’t notice. “That’s how loose and stupid it was out there,” Bill Wyman, the Stones’ bassist from 1962 to 1993, told the Observer’s Sean O’Hagan when discussing the incident in 2010.

The thieves made away with a saxophone, a bass and several guitars. Taylor claims that until the “Keithburst” turned up at the Met, that was the last time he saw it.

But the Met has disputed Taylor’s claims, saying that he used the “Keithburst” but never officially owned it. The museum also argues that the instrument was never taken in the 1971 burglary, and that its recent whereabouts have been well-known. Christie’s put the guitar up for sale in 2004, and it went on display in a Met exhibition in 2019.

“This guitar has a long and well-documented history of ownership,” the museum tells the New York Times’ Michaela Towfighi in a statement.

The Met claims that the guitar was owned by Adrian Miller in 1971. How Miller acquired the guitar is unclear. However, the museum says the instrument’s provenance since that year has been carefully documented.

Subsequent owners have included Cosmo Verrico, a guitarist for the rock band Heavy Metal Kids; Peter Svensson, a Swedish producer; and Dirk Ziff, the billionaire collector who lent the guitar for the 2019 exhibition and made the recent donation to the Met.

Taylor’s representatives have been relatively quiet since making their initial claim. Marlies Damming, Taylor’s manager, tells the Times: “We would like the Metropolitan Museum to make the guitar available so that we can inspect it, and confirm its provenance one way or the other.”

Regardless of what happens with the “Keithburst,” the Met’s new collection of guitars, which spans from 1920 to 1970, will be displayed and used for guest performances and recordings. They’ll also be made available for study by contemporary guitar builders.

ARTnews’ Alex Greenberger reports that pieces from the donation will anchor a permanent gallery of American guitars that’s scheduled to open in 2027.

“This is not just a once-in-[a]-lifetime gift,” Jayson Kerr Dobney, the Met’s curator of musical instruments, says in the museum’s statement. “It is a once-in-a-century opportunity for the museum—a visionary, comprehensive collection of American guitars, unparalleled in both its breadth and variety.”

Christian Thorsberg | Read More

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.