LOS ANGELES, CA.- Julien’s Auctions held its spectacular music auction event Property From The Estate of B.B. King today on Saturday, September 21 live in Beverly Hills in front of a packed crowd of collectors and music fans bidding live on the floor, online and on the phone across the globe for nearly 600 items owned and used by the legendary King of the Blues, who would have turned 94 years old this past Monday.

The centerpiece of the auction was King’s beloved, stage played “Lucille” black Gibson ES-345 prototype 1 for 80 limited edition Lucille guitar that was gifted by Gibson to B.B. King on his 80th birthday. This “Lucille” was heavily used by King and served as his primary guitar on tour in his later years. The guitar accompanied by a hard leather case with "B.B. King" embroidered in gold sold for $280,000, well over its original estimate at $80,000-$100,000. The revered fifteen-time Grammy Award-winning artist, singer and founding father of the electric blues who was revered by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Eric Clapton and more began naming all of his trademark Gibson guitars “Lucille” after an incident in 1949 where he ran into a fire to save his guitar which allegedly started in a fight over a woman named Lucille.

Another top highlight of the event was the sale of King’s collection of original 78rpm blues records that sold for an astronomical $51,200, one hundred times its original estimate of $500. The collection includes: "Jump with You Baby," "Bad Luck," "Shut Your Mouth," "Be Careful with A Fool," "Neighborhood Affair," and "When My Heart Breaks Like A Hammer." Together with 17 original 78rpm blues records from King's personal collection, including: (Muddy Waters) "Got My Mojo Working," (Howlin' Wolf) "Going Back Home," (Rufus Thomas Jr.) "Walking in The Rain," (Lil' Son Jackson) "Ticket Agent Blues," (Elmore James) "I Held My Baby Last Night," (Muddy Waters) "Mannish Boy," (Otis Rush) "I Can't Quit You Baby," (Jimmy Reed) "Rockin' with Reed," (Bo Diddley) "Pretty Thing," (Little Walter) "Mellow Down Easy," (Roosevelt Sykes) "Too Hot to Hold," (Little Walter) "Boom, Boom Out Goes the Lights," (Lightnin' Hopkins) "Nothin but The Blues," (Elmore James) "Sinful Women," (Little Walter) "Nobody but You," (Lowell Fulson) "Reconsider Baby," and "Time Brings About a Change" (Jimmy Witherspoon).

Other highlights included a stage played black 2005 Gibson ES-345 Special Edition Lucille guitar gifted to B.B. King to commemorate his 83rd birthday whose hammer price was $43,750; a Gibson ES-355 Stereo guitar from 1969 that sold for $31,250, ten times its original estimate of $3,000; King's gold-finished "Merry Christmas" Gibson Lucille guitar with a Christmas tree drawing on the body which sold for $25,000; a Gibson Custom guitar in sunburst finish that sold for $25,000; a brick "from the grandstand where Elvis Presley performed at the 1956 Miss-Ala. Fair & Dairy Show” that sold for $22,400; a stage and photoshoot worn 18K gold ring centering the letters "BB" mounted with 22 round diamonds that sold for $16,250; an 18K yellow Hopkins & Hopkins gold pocket watch gifted from U2 to B.B. King in 1989 engraved "Love U2 '89" in the interior and "B.B. King" on the back which sold for $12,800, four times its original estimate of $3,000 as well as amplifiers, stage worn jackets, awards, personal items and more.