A 12-string acoustic guitar of John Lennon's, used when recording the Beatles' 1965 Help! album and film, was purchased for $2,857,000 at an auction.
The two-day auction, hosted by Julien's Auctions, featured instruments and items from "music icons." Estimates for the guitar's selling price were between $600,000 and $800,000, but the instrument sold for over three and a half times these appraisals.
David Goodman, the chief executive of Julien's, said that the auction house was "absolutely thrilled and honored to have set a new world record with the sale of John Lennon's lost Hootenanny guitar."
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Lennon originally sold the instrument to Gordon Waller of Peter & Gordon, a Brit-pop duo. The guitar then landed in the hands of one of Wallers' road managers, who "tossed [the guitar] in the attic," per Julien's.
The guitar could not be found for over 50 years, but was discovered when a man was moving out of the home where the guitar was "lost." The man found the guitar as well as its original case - which was "rescued" from the trash - and then alerted Julien's in March. Andy Babiuk, a Beatles "expert," authenticated the guitar.
"Check your attic, folks," said Martin Nolan, a co-founder of Julien's Auctions.
The guitar was restored by Ryan Schuermann, a Los Angeles repairman. He removed the instrument's neck and reattached it to the guitar at a "better angle."
"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," said Goodman.
"Finding this remarkable instrument is like finding a lost Rembrandt or Picasso," said Darren Julien, another co-founder and executive director of the auction house. He called it "the greatest find of a Beatles guitar since Paul McCartney's lost 1961 Höfner bass guitar."
He noted that the instrument "still looks and plays like a dream."
"The guitar may have found a new home, but its melody will continue to echo in the hearts and minds of music lovers everywhere," stated the auction house following the sale. The guitar and its case were sold alongside a boxed DVD set for the Help! and photographs from the film's set.
George Harrison also used the Hootenanny guitar during the recording of Help! and Rubber Soul.
Another guitar of Lennon's, a Gibson J160E, sold in 2015 for $2.4 million in 2015. Lennon's "missing" guitar is the fifth-most expensive guitar ever sold. Kurt Cobain's Martin D-18E boasts the title of most-expensive, selling for over $6 million. Cobain played the guitar during Nirvana's famous MTV Unplugged set. The second-most expensive guitar sold also belonged to Cobain.
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