Representatives for Mick Taylor, the Rolling Stones’ former guitarist, said the Les Paul was stolen from him decades ago. The museum says he never owned it and has not made a claim.

A guitar, once played by Keith Richards, is now at the center of a high-profile ownership dispute between The Met and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor.

Taylor's representatives are requesting that the museum make the guitar available for inspection – while the museum asserts that it was Keith Richards who held onto the guitar until 1971

When the Rolling Stones played The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Keith Richards played a 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a sunburst finish — hence the instrument’s eventual nickname, the Keithburst. The appearance helped to popularize the Les Paul,

The Times report stated that Keith Richards, another Stones bandmate, owned the guitar and that the instrument was never stolen. By 1971, Adrian Miller was listed as the guitar’s owner, but the Times reported that it was unclear, based on the Met’s provenance, how and from whom Miller bought the instrument.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is fending off claims from former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, who says the museum is displaying his long-lost 1959 Gibson Les Paul. The storied guitar—famous for its sunburst finish and ties to Keith Richards,