Beatles guitar fetches 2.4 mn at USA auction

The young musician bought it in the late 1960s without knowing it had been stolen from the legendary Beatle several years before.

In a major score for a Beatles superfan, an acoustic guitar that was used by John Lennon to record “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and a few of the other Beatles hits sold at auction for $2.4 million. Lennon used the guitar for about a year before swapping it with Harrison; it later went missing during a Christmas concert in 1963. For more than 50 years the guitar’s whereabouts remained unknown until a man in California discovered last year that an instrument in his possession may have historical value.

“It’s such an important part of Lennon’s career and Beatles history”, NBC News quoted auctioneer Darren Julien as saying.

The day after the pair receive their guitars, they also went to record “P.S. I Love You”, “Love Me Do”, and the iconic “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. “I knew it would go over $1 million; I had no idea it would go over $2 million”.

The guitar fetched one of the highest prices ever for an item or rock’n roll memorabilia.

By comparison, Lennon’s Gretsch guitar, used on the Beatles’ 1966 single “Paperback Writer”, sold for $530,000 to Indianapolis Colts owner and guitar collector Jim Irsay in November 2014.

Lennon’s acoustic Gibson wasn’t the only Beatles-related item to far exceed expectations: The band’s Beatles-emblazoned Ludwig bass drumhead, used by Ringo Starr during the Beatles’ February 9th, 1964 debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, sold for $2.125 million, more than doubling its $1 million estimate.