A guitar played by John Lennon has sold for $2.9 million (£2.3 million), setting a new world record as the most expensive Beatles guitar ever sold at auction, according to organizers.
The 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar used in the recording of The Beatles’ 1965 album and film “Help!” has not been seen or played in more than 50 years.
The instrument had been owned by Scottish guitarist Gordon Waller, best known as part of the pop duo Peter and Gordon, who later donated it to his band’s road manager.
Decades later, a new owner living in the English countryside rediscovered the guitar while moving and put it up for auction with an estimated price of £485,000 to £647,000.
The guitar was sold via telephone bid as part of a two-day auction at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe on Wednesday. Music Icons Sale by Julien’s Auctions.
David Goodman, chief executive of the auction house, said: “We are absolutely delighted and honoured 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 also a symbol of John Lennon’s enduring legacy.
“Today’s unprecedented sale is a testament to the timeless appeal and reverence of The Beatles’ music and John Lennon.”
The guitar was made by the Bavarian company Framus in the early 1960s and was featured in the film Help! when the group performed “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”.
The song was also used during the recording sessions for “Help!”, “It’s Only Love”, “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Girl”, and was used as the rhythm track for George Harrison’s performance of “Norwegian Wood”.
Darren Julien, co-founder and executive director of Julien’s Auctions, said he traveled to Britain to view the guitar at the home where it had been kept and recovered the original case, which had been thrown in the bin.
Julien said he verified the instrument’s provenance through Beatles historians Andy Babiuk and Danny Bennett.
In 2015, Julien’s sold another Lennon guitar – a Gibson J-160E acoustic guitar that had been stolen from Lennon in the late 1960s and bought unwittingly by a musician – for $2.4 million (then worth £1.6 million).
The company sold the drum kit used by Ringo Starr and his copy of the White Album for $2.2 million.
