George Harrison Guitar Sells for $567,500

[I am the Paulrus]

George Harrison Guitar Sells for $567,500

Friday,December 17,2004



NEW YORK - A classic Gibson guitar played by George Harrison on the Beatles' "Revolver" album and by John Lennon during the recording of the "White Album" sold Friday to an anonymous bidder for $567,500, Christie's auction house announced.


The cherry-red SG Standard guitar belonged to Harrison from 1966 through 1969, and holds a special place in Beatles history. Harrison used the guitar in recording sessions and in several of the band's increasingly rare public appearances, and loaned the guitar to Lennon during sessions for the "White Album," according to Darren Julien, whose Julien Entertainment co-sponsored the auction.


The 40-year-old guitar comes with a star-crossed history. The Beatle presented the instrument to a friend, guitarist Pete Ham of the band Badfinger, as a gift in 1969. Ham committed suicide five years later, and the guitar passed on to his brother John.


John Ham stored the guitar beneath a bed in his London home, where it sat until he was contacted in 2002 by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame representatives putting together a Badfinger retrospective. Ham discovered the guitar in the same spot where he had placed it a quarter-century earlier.


Harrison died of cancer in November 2001.

[macca-fanna]

why does it have to be that expensive?

[HeyJude]

why does it have to be that expensive?

So that us fans - poor human beings - have no chance of getting it

[Mini]

Just goes to show that you are worth more dead than alive.