The acoustic guitar spent more than 50 years in an attic in rural England before it was rediscovered and sent to auction where it has exceeded its estimated price of £470,000 to £627,000
A guitar played by Beatles legend John Lennon is to be sold for at least $1milllion (£783,000) after a man found it after it was lost in his dad’s attic.
The acoustic guitar spent more than 50 years in the attic in rural England before it was rediscovered and sent to auction. The Framus 12-string Hootenanny guitar was once played by Beatles stars John Lennon and George Harrison on some of the Fab Four’s most popular tracks.
The instrument was used by the legendary musicians on the making of the Beatles’ fifth album Help! and their sixth Rubber Soul . The guitar can be heard on tracks like You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, It’s Only Love, I’ve Just Seen a Face, Norwegian Wood and Girl.
John Lennon reportedly gifted the guitar to musician Gordon Waller, of the pop duo Peter and Gordon. Waller then passed it on to a friend who stashed it in his attic and promptly forgot about it for 50 years.
The guitar which was also used in stage performances and features prominently in the Beatles’ Help! movie. Julien’s is currently selling the guitar in a two-day auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York on May 29 and 30 in a sale of music memorabilia including a setlist handwritten by Kurt Kobain, a Tupac Shakur lyric book and a Versace outfit from Tina Turner.
Bidding started at $150,000 (£117,000) while it was estimated to fetch between $600,000 (£470,000) to $800,000 (£627,000), however, bidding has already reached a staggering $1million (£783,000). The most expensive Beatles guitar ever sold was Lennon’s Gibson J160E, which sold for $2.4 million in 2015.
