Legend's sax sells for $260,000

Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet was among the 430 items auctioned

A saxophone belonging to jazz legend Charlie Parker has been sold for $261,750 (£140,332) at an auction of jazz memorabilia in New York.

The alto sax was hidden away by his widow for almost 50 years after the musician's death in 1955.

Other highlights of the auction included items from Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane.

Organisers Guernsey said the auction was the first in the US to be devoted to items belonging to jazz musicians.

Clothing

Among the other musical instruments sold were a clarinet belonging to Benny Goodman, which was auctioned for $25,000 (£13,403), Lionel Hampton's vibraphone, and a Dizzy Gillespie trumpet which fetched nearly $31,000 (£16,620).

Handwritten items were also popular, including three sheets of musical arrangement for Coltrane's song A Love Supreme, which sold for $129,000 (£69,100), and a letter written by Armstrong to his agent which fetched $29,500 (£15,547).

Lionel Hampton's vibraphone was sold for $50,000 (£26,800)

Items of clothing and personal possessions were also auctioned, among them a smoking jacket belonging to Thelonius Monk, and Charlie Parker's gold pocket watch, which was sold for nearly $13,000 (£6,900).

However, a saxophone belonging to Coltrane was withdrawn from auction after it failed to make an opening bid of $500,000 (£268,000).

TS Monk, the son of the jazz legend Thelonius, said the event was "kind of sacred".

Souls

"They are all so alive," he said of the musicians represented. "They are alive in our hearts and our collective souls."

Guernsey's president Arlan Ettinger said the auction house first had the idea of a sale of jazz memorabilia 10 years ago but it only became a reality over the past year as the families of the musicians involved began to show their support.

He added that many of the families involved in the sale would be donating the proceeds to various foundations.

"A lot of this has never been seen before and it comes from the greatest provenance you can have - it never left the family," Mr Ettinger said.

"To give up treasures in the hope that something from the past will help something in the future is a wonderful thing."