“At the Mark Knopfler sale, I remember seeing people in tears”: A-list guitar auctions are now a firm fixture, and the sums involved are eye-watering. But who is driving the boom – and is it sustainable?

An auctioneer holds Jeff Beck's 'Tina' pink Jackson Soloist as it prepares to go under the hammer at Christie's in London.

We’ve all dreamed of popping the catches on a battered flight case, inhaling the mojo of our hero’s guitar and whispering, Gollum-like: “Mine, all mine…” Unfortunately, for the longest time, there were only two ways to become the owner of a celebrity instrument.

You could place requests with a global network of vintage guitar dealers, betting on the slim chance of a private sale. Or you could talk your way past security, infiltrate the star’s dressing room and slip out of the stage door with your contraband (a fate that befell such A-list lost boys as Eric Clapton’s “Beano” Les Paul and Joe Satriani’s “Pearly” Ibanez).