Is There a Stolen Guitar in the Met’s Collection? The Museum Says No
Mick Taylor thinks a guitar missing since a wild 1970s Stones session has surfaced in the Met’s new acquisitions.
In May 2025, the Metropolitan Museum of Art received what Max Hollein, Marian Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer, called “truly a trailblazing and transformative gift”: 500 guitars from the collection of Dirk Ziff. The guitars date from 1920 to 1970, called “the golden age of American guitar making,” Many of them are linked to some of the most famous names in rock music and pop culture. There is Leo Fender’s first guitar from 1948; the 1930 Martin OM-45 guitar Roy Rogers played; and the distinctive 1959 sunburst Les Paul guitar Keith Richards played the first time the Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
That last guitar got the attention of former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, who was in the band from 1969 to 1974. In an exclusive story published by Page Six, Taylor and his business manager and partner, Marlies Damming, say the guitar was stolen from him. He got it from Richards in 1967, and it went missing in 1971, while the band was recording their 1972 album Exile on Main St. in Villa Nellcôte on the French Riviera.
Generally considered not just some of the Rolling Stones’ best work, but one of the greatest rock albums of all time, Exile on Main St. is as notorious for the band’s wild behavior behind the scenes as it is celebrated for its sound. Several instruments disappeared from the villa, including nine guitars, Bill Wyman’s bass, and Bobby Keys’s saxophone. The instruments were never located, and what happened to them has never been confirmed, but it is believed they were stolen by drug dealers to whom Keith Richards owed money. Taylor says the 1959 sunburst Les Paul was among them.
The Metropolitan Museum has refuted the statement. The AP reports that museum spokesperson Ann Bailis called the guitar’s provenance “well-documented.” According to the Met, the guitar belonged to Richards until 1971, then to producer and manager Adrian Miller. After Miller’s death, Ziff bought it in 2016. He loaned it to the Met for their 2019 exhibit “Play it Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll.”
According to the AP, Damming wants the guitar inspected by “an independent guitar expert” to verify its provenance.
As of this writing, Taylor and Damming have yet to contact the Met, which intends to open a permanent gallery to display the guitars in 2027.
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