Julien’s auction results
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| This Beatles drum head sold for $2,125,000.00. |
The 1962 J-160E Gibson guitar
Saturday November 7, Julien’s Auctions sold what many have called the most important Beatle guitar to ever hit the auction block for a record $2,410,000 price. The John Lennon original 1962 J-160E Gibson Acoustic guitar had been lost for over 50 years and represented a rare and significant guitar to John Lennon’s history.
It’s September of 1962 and The Beatles’ John Lennon and George Harrison each purchase “jumbo” J-160E Gibson acoustic guitars from Rushworth’s Music House in Liverpool for £161. Never would one imagine that the guitars would become so significantly important to the history of the Beatles nor engage such an undeniably intriguing story of its future whereabouts. When purchased by two of the members of the Fab Four the guitars were the only ones of their type in the country which were said to have been flown to England by jet from America after being specially ordered. The two guitars were identical apart from the serial numbers, and they likely were mixed up as they were delivered – George ended up with John’s guitar and John with George’s.
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| Both guitars in the studio. Note the old drum head logo. |
The Beatles drum head
The most famous of the seven known Beatles drop-T logo drum heads — The Ed Sullivan drum head — was also auctioned today at Julien’s Auctions, bringing in a final price of $2,125,000.00. Aside from its status as the most celebrated of the seven drop-T logo drum skins, the Ed Sullivan Show head (also known as drum head #2) is the only one that was featured on a Beatles album jacket. It appeared on the covers of the Capitol LPs “The Beatles Second Album” and “Something New” as well as on the interior gatefolds of Capitol’s “The Beatles Story” and Parlophone’s “Beatles for Sale”.
Other stuff
Notable highlights from the auction also included The Beatles signed “Please, Please Me” album cover (sold for $28,125), a lock of John Lennon’s hair and inscribed card (sold for $25,000), a Beatles signed baseball 1966 (sold for $100,000), John Lennon prescription glasses (sold for $25,000) and The Beatles Yellow Submarine sculpture (sold for $20,000). More information on the auction at juliensauctions.com
Surely a record amount for a guitar? I remember when one of Hendrix's Strats sold for £250,000 and being amazed by the amount, but this is £1.5 million in Sterling – a huge figure.