John Lennon’s Guitar From ‘Assist!’ Is Bought for $2.9 Million at Public sale

A lately found guitar that John Lennon used to file a number of Beatles songs within the Nineteen Sixties earlier than it went lacking for 50 years has bought at public sale for $2.9 million, turning into one of the helpful items of memorabilia from the band.

The 12-string acoustic guitar, referred to as the Hootenanny, was believed to be misplaced after Mr. Lennon and his bandmate George Harrison used it to file the 1965 Beatles albums “Rubber Soul” and “Assist!” and the soundtrack to the band’s movie of the identical title, mentioned Julien’s Auctions, the Los Angeles-based public sale home that dealt with the sale on Wednesday.

Later that yr, Mr. Lennon gifted the 1964 guitar, made by the German instrument producer Framus, to Gordon Waller, a member of the British pop duo Peter & Gordon. Mr. Waller handed it on to considered one of his highway managers, who took the guitar to his dwelling within the rural British countryside and tossed it within the attic, the public sale home mentioned.

Greater than 50 years later, a person in Britain found the guitar in his mother and father’ attic as they had been transferring out of the home, Darren Julien, a co-founder of Julien Auctions, mentioned in a video. After they discovered it — together with its unique guitar case — they alerted the public sale home in March, Mr. Julien mentioned.

“The son advised us that he had all the time heard his dad speak about this guitar, however he’d believed that it was misplaced,” mentioned Martin Nolan, one other co-founder of Julien’s Auctions, within the video.

The public sale home consulted with Andy Babiuk, a Beatles professional who has authenticated the band’s memorabilia up to now, to confirm the guitar. After evaluating the instrument’s wooden grain and the wear and tear patterns to these in archival photographs, Mr. Babiuk decided that the guitar was the one performed by Mr. Lennon, the public sale home mentioned.

“Examine your attic, people,” Mr. Nolan mentioned.

Different well-known devices have turned up after being misplaced for greater than 5 a long time. Paul McCartney’s Höfner violin bass was discovered final yr. Mr. Lennon’s Gibson acoustic guitar, which had additionally been forgotten, was bought for $2.4 million to an nameless purchaser in 2015.

After half a century within the attic, Mr. Lennon’s Hootenanny was in want of some restoration. Ryan Schuermann, a repairman in Los Angeles, performed an advanced course of involving eradicating its neck and attaching it again to the physique at a greater angle.

The guitar, which includes a spruce high, mahogany again and sides, a 19-fret rosewood fingerboard and an ornamental sound gap rosette, was bought together with a Maton guitar case and a DVD boxed set for the film “Assist!” and a group of pictures from the set of the movie.

The worth of the guitar was estimated at $600,000 to $800,000 earlier than the public sale. It was bought to an nameless purchaser for $2,857,500, turning into the fifth-most costly guitar ever bought, the public sale home mentioned.

“Discovering this exceptional instrument is like discovering a misplaced Rembrandt or Picasso,” Mr. Julien added in an announcement, “and it nonetheless appears to be like and performs like a dream.”