An acoustic guitar used by John Lennon to record a number of Beatles songs, including "P.S. I Love You" and "Love Me Do," sold for $2.4 million to an anonymous buyer on Saturday, according to an auction house, CNN reported.
The guitar, a 1962 Gibson J-160E, was one of a pair of identical acoustic guitars bought by Lennon and fellow Beatles member George Harrison in September of 1962, as per Los-Angeles based Julien's Auctions, which billed the instrument as "the most important Beatle guitar ever to hit the auction block."
"John so loved this particular guitar that he would take it home and wrote songs on it with Paul McCartney," the auction house said in a press release announcing the sale, which apparently broke all records for rock memorabilia.
Julien's Auctions said that the instrument went missing during the Beatles' Finsbury Park Christmas Show in London in December 1963 and was lost for more than five decades.
The John Lennon guitar had been in the possession of John McCaw, a novice musician who purchased it in the 1960s without any knowledge that it had been stolen from the Beatles legend many years ago, said auctioneer Darren Julien.
The guitar's authenticity was verified by its matching serial number and wood grain among other things, added Julien.
"It's such an important part of Lennon's career and Beatles history," he said. "I knew it would go over $1 million; I had no idea it would go over $2 million."
The John Lennon guitar wasn't the only instrument that was sold at the auction on Saturday. A Beatles drum head, used by the band during their historic appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964, was also sold for $2.1 million.
Other rock memorabilia sold at the auction included Elvis Presley's 24-carat Gold Leaf Piana, which fetched $600,000, a whiteskin leather ensemble once worn by "the King," sold for $56,250 and late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain's cardigan, which was snapped up for $137,500, according to Agence France-Presse.
JUST SOLD for $2,410,000 - John Lennon's Gibson J-160E acoustic guitar! #Auction #TheBeatles #JohnLennon pic.twitter.com/zqubRZvES0
— Juliens Auctions (@JuliensAuctions) November 8, 2015
JUST SOLD for $2,050,000 - The Beatles 1964 Ed Sullivan Show drum head! #Auction #TheBeatles #RingoStarr pic.twitter.com/sW6IrrbDdn — Juliens Auctions (@JuliensAuctions) November 8, 2015
