John Lennon’s Framus 12-string hootenanny acoustic guitar and Maton case, sold for $2.25m at Julien’s Auctions.
Image credit: Julien’s Auctions.
John Lennon’s 12-string hootenanny guitar, presumed lost for 50 years and rediscovered in an attic amid a house move in the UK, sold at an auction in New York for $2.25m/£1.77m ($2.9m inclusive of fees).
Used in The Beatles’ hits Help! and You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, the 12-string acoustic guitar and Maton case were offered at Julien's Auction’s two-day Music Icon’s sale on May 29-30 at Hard Rock Café in New York.
Billed as 'one of the most historically important Beatles guitars in rock history' and carrying an estimate of $600,000-800,000, the guitar made over four times the low estimate and set a record as the most expensive Beatles guitar to sell at auction. The winning bid was placed on the telephone by an anonymous buyer.
John Lennon’s Framus hootenanny acoustic guitar set a record for a Beatles guitar at auction when it sold at Julien’s.
Image credit: Julien’s Auctions.
The previous record for a Beatles guitar sold at auction was another John Lennon guitar sold by Julien’s: a 1962 Gibson J-160E electric/acoustic which featured on She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand and All My Loving which sold for $2.4m (£1.9m) including fees in 2015.
“We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to have set a new world record with the sale of John Lennon’s lost hootenanny guitar,” said David Goodman, chief executive officer of Julien’s Auctions. “This guitar is not only a piece of music history but 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."
