The Beatles continue to break records long after their musical reign across the world.
A long-lost John Lennon guitar has sold for more than $2.85 million at auction at Times Square’s Hard Rock Cafe where collectors, fans, and industry aficionados had gathered from around the globe to witness the event.
Lennon’s 1964 Framus “Help!” Hootenanny acoustic guitar was also used by George Harrison during the recording sessions for the 1965 Beatles album Rubber Soul.
It had been discovered – after not being seen or played for over 50 years – at the end of 1965. Lennon gifted the guitar to Gordon Waller of Peter & Gordon, for whom he and Paul McCartney had been writing songs. But Waller later passed the guitar onto a manager of his who took it home and left it in the attic.
The new owners of the British countryside home found it while moving in and expected it to sell for around $500,000.
Julien’s Auctions
The steep price of nearly $2.9 million makes it the highest-selling guitar at auction in Beatles history and the fifth most-expensive guitar ever sold. It was bought through a telephone bid on Wednesday as part of a two-day music icons sale by Julien’s Auctions.
David Goodman, the CEO of the auction company, said: “We are absolutely thrilled and honored to have set a new world record with the sale of John Lennon’s lost Hootenanny guitar. This guitar is not only a piece of music history but a symbol of John Lennon’s enduring legacy.”
He concluded: “Today’s unprecedented sale is a testament to the timeless appeal and reverence of the Beatles’ music and John Lennon.”
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