Beatles guitar sells for €428,800 at auction

A guitar played by George Harrison and John Lennon during Beatles recording sessions sold for more than a quarter of a million pounds at auction.

The Gibson SG guitar fetched €428,800 Christie’s in New York, during the largest auction of rock and entertainment memorabilia.

Harrison gave the Gibson electric guitar to Peter Ham of the rock band Badfinger in 1969 and upon Ham’s death in 1974, the guitar was stored away for 28 years by John Ham, his brother.

The guitar was rediscovered when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame contacted John in preparation for a Badfinger retrospective in 2002 – and has been on loan to the Hall of Fame, in Ohio, for the past two years.

The guitar sold to an anonymous telephone bidder.

Harrison, who died in 2001, played the instrument from 1966-1969, and used it during the Revolver recording sessions.

Lennon also played the guitar during the White Album sessions in 1969.

Another intriguing item under the hammer was a 1991 letter written by troubled Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to wife Courtney Love, describing his hallucinations after taking LSD

Cobain wrote the letter, which fetched nearly €14,500, three years before committing suicide at the age of 27.

The 400 lots raised more than €1.6m in total.

Among the 70 Beatles items was Lennon’s Vox guitar organ from the 1960s. It had a top expected price of €39,400, but did not sell.

Never-heard-before original interview tapes between Lennon and a correspondent for The Washington Star Newspaper, recorded in February 1975, went for €40,700.

Three ringside photographs of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier documenting the legendary 1971 boxing match, and taken by Frank Sinatra, sold for a total of around €10,900.

Also on sale was a book report written by Britney Spears during her school days, which raised nearly €1,400.

A Christie’s spokesman said: “We were very happy with the sale. There was interest across all sectors from early Hollywood all the way through to Britney Spears book report.”