“Originally retailed for around $250, they can now fetch up to 2,500 times that”: 1959 Gibson 'Burst Les Pauls sell for a king's ransom, and have been played and cherished by everyone from Jimmy Page to Billy Gibbons – but what exactly makes them special?

A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard 'Burst.

We are living in an age where vintage guitars are changing hands for record amounts of money.

None more so, it would appear, than the highly revered 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard – widely considered to be the Holy Grail for guitar enthusiasts and collectors. According to the official ledgers, between 500 and 600 of these guitars were shipped out of Gibson's Kalamazoo, Michigan factory that year, which only adds to the mystery and folklore surrounding them.