The guitar that belted out the Beatles riffs on "I Am the Walrus" and "Hello, Goodbye," sold for auction at $408,000, according to Billboard.
The Vox electric guitar was played by George Harrison and John Lennon, Billboard reported, and sold at double the price expected. The same instrument was sold a few years prior for about $100,000 at a Christie's Auction House and was on display at an Ireland museum before going up for auction Saturday. The custom-made guitar was allegedly given as a gift by Lennon to "Magic Alex" Mardas in 196, Billboard says.
The anonymous new owner purchased the relic at the Music Icons Event Saturday in Manhattan. Harrison reportedly once practiced the Beatles hit "I Am The Walrus" with the guitar and Lennon used it during a video recording for "Hello, Goodbye."
Beatlemania was not the only fever maintained at the auction Saturday. Memorabilia from Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Bette Midler, David Cassidy, David Bowie, The Grateful Dead, Madonna and Jimi Hendrix also sold.
But Beatles items are one of the highest sellers to hold their value, and then some, at auction. George Michael allegedly paid $2 million a few years ago for a white Steinway piano Lennon used to write "Imagine." An autographed copy of the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club" sold for $209,500 earlier this year.
The New York Daily News reported in 2009 that the "The $11 Million Dollar Picture Show" album cover was the most expensive piece of Beatles memorabilia of all time. The copy went up for sale for $11 million at Saint Giles Street Gallery in Norwich, England. The cover, showing the Beatles in butcher coats and surrounded by doll parts, is inscribed by John Lennon: "Here's the famous banned butcher cover. You can sell it for $11 million dollars."
