Bob Dylan Stratocaster sets auction record, sells for nearly $1 million

New York (CNN) -- A guitar once owned by music legend Bob Dylan sold for $965,000 Friday at Christie's, setting a new world auction record for any guitar, according to a statement from the auction house.

The 1964 Fender Stratocaster was purchased by an unidentified bidder, said a Christie's spokesperson.

Dylan, now 72, played the electric guitar in his famous performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, during which he was backed by an electric band for the first time, according to the statement. He was 24 years, and on the road to establishing himself as a music icon, the statement said.

"A tremendous amount of international interest was generated at the time of the sale's announcement, and today's result justifies the mythic status of this guitar in the annals of music history," said Tom Lecky, Christie's specialist and the sale's auctioneer....