Ex-Beatle John Lennon's Liverpool-bought guitar sells for £205,000

Jul 3 2009 by Gary Stewart, Liverpool Daily Post

A BEATLES memorabilia auction saw John Lennon’s cheap 1958 guitar sell for £205,250 – twice its valuation by industry experts.

The 1958 Hofner Senator guitar, bought by Lennon in the early sixties before he became famous, had been expected to reach bids of £100,000 to £150,000 because so few come on the market.

The Beatle bought the guitar from Hessy's Music store, in Liverpool, and auctioneers believe he kept it at home for song-writing purposes.

He later gave it to friend and Beatles’ road manager Mal Evans, also from the city.

At the auction it was accompanied by a fax of a 1982 letter from George Harrison saying it was: “. . . one of the first guitars of John’s going back to the early days in Liverpool (1960-ish)”

Christie’s pop culture expert Neil Roberts told the Daily Post: “You don’t get many of John Lennon’s guitars appearing for sale.

“Most are owned by Yoko Ono and his sons as part of his estate, and people who do own one tend to keep hold of them.

“This guitar is special as it is from very early in his career, possibly when he was in Germany, and it was what he could afford.

“It was well before his Rickenbacker or any other high- falutin’ guitars. It was the guitar he built his reputation on.”