Have you seen the film The Hateful Eight? Do you recall the scene in which Kurt Russell snatches Jennifer Jason Leigh’s guitar and destroys it?

The one-of-a-kind 150-year-old guitar was loaned with the understanding that it would be substituted with a janky lookalike before the destruction scene during filming. Mark Ulano, the sound mixer for the Hateful Eight, stated to SSN Insider.

‘What was supposed to happen was we were supposed to go up to that point, cut and trade guitars and smash the double,’ Mark recounted.

‘Well, somehow that didn’t get communicated to Kurt, so when you see that happen on the frame, Jennifer’s reaction is genuine. Tarantino was in a corner of the room with a funny curl on his lips, because he got something out of it with the performance.’

Russell, to be fair, had no idea he was touching an antique at the time. And, according to Dick Boak, head of C.F. Martin & Co.’s museum, archives, and special projects, the company didn’t reveal how the instrument was destroyed.

“We assumed that a scaffolding or something fell on it,” Boak explained to Reverb. “We understand that things happen, but at the same time we can’t take this lightly. All this about the guitar being smashed being written into the script and that somebody just didn’t tell the actor, this is all new information to us. We didn’t know anything about the script or Kurt Russell not being told that it was a priceless, irreplaceable artifact from the Martin Museum.”

Boak went on to describe the episode as “distressing.” “We can’t believe that it happened. I don’t think anything can really remedy this. We’ve been remunerated for the insurance value, but it’s not about the money. It’s about the preservation of American musical history and heritage.”

Regardless of how it occurred, the incident had far-reaching consequences, at least for the museum.

‘As a result of the incident, the company will no longer loan guitars to movies under any circumstances,’ stated Boak.

Boak was called by Business Insider to acquire an estimate of the guitar’s worth. He stated he wouldn’t say much more about the situation other than to say, “It’s not replaceable.”

The Hateful Eight guitar was shattered beyond repair, and it looks like a large sum of money wouldn’t assist much, given the rarity of the instrument.