PREVIEW

The iconic guitar used in the recording of The Beatles’ Help! album and is heading to auction.

John Lennon’s long-lost Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar went on display at London's Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly Circus this morning (23April24), ahead of hitting the auction block with Julien’s Auctions.

The guitar will headline Julien’s Auctions’ blockbuster Music Icons two-day auction event taking place Wednesday, May 29th, and Thursday, May 30th, 2024 live at Hard Rock Cafe in New York and online at juliensauctions.com.

The extraordinary guitar, long forgotten and believed to have been lost, was recently found in an attic in the UK after being unseen for over 50 years. Considered the most important Beatles guitar ever to come to market, it is expected to exceed its estimate of £485,000- £647,000 and set a new world record for the highest-selling Beatles guitar.

The Beatles’ arsenal of guitars and instruments would become as legendary and celebrated as their music, from their earliest recordings to the 1960s height of Beatlemania, when this Framus 12-string acoustic guitar would first appear. It was famously seen in the Beatles’ Help! film and numerous photographs taken by Beatle Monthly Book (Beatles fan club magazine) publisher Sean O’Mahoney, who had full access to the Beatles during their 1965 Help! recording sessions, where the guitar can be heard on “Help!” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, “It’s Only Love” and “I’ve Just Seen A Face” and more. The Framus Hootenanny 12-string can also be heard on the The Beatles’ recording of “Girl” during the Rubber Soul sessions and on the rhythm track for ‘Norwegian Wood’ played by George Harrison (photo right credit: Beatles Book Photo Library).

By the mid to late 60s, the famous Framus was in the possession of Gordon Waller of Peter & Gordon, who later gave the Hootenanny 12-string guitar to their road managers. It was recently discovered in an attic in the rural British countryside where it had lain forgotten and unplayed for over 50 years. The homeowners found the guitar in the midst of their move and contacted Julien’s Auctions. Executive Directors and Founders, Darren Julien and Martin Nolan, traveled to the UK and immediately recognized that this was indeed the storied Help! guitar. While on the premises, they also discovered the Framus’ original guitar case - a Maton Australian-made guitar case (photo left) that can also be seen in photos taken of the Beatles in 1965 - in the trash and rescued it (photo left & right: Beatles Book Photo Library). The sale of the guitar is accompanied by the case and book.

“The discovery of John Lennon’s Help! guitar that was believed to be lost is considered the greatest find of a Beatles guitar since Paul McCartney’s lost 1961 Höfner bass guitar,” said Darren Julien, Co-Founder and Executive Director, of Julien’s Auctions. “Finding this remarkable instrument is like finding a lost Rembrandt or Picasso, and it still looks and plays like a dream after having been preserved in an attic for more than 50 years. To awaken this sleeping beauty is a sacred honour and is a great moment for Music, Julien’s, Beatles and Auction history.”

The industry’s leading rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia auction house has broken world records with the sale of Beatles memorabilia, including a previous John Lennon acoustic guitar, which sold for a record $2.4 million, Ringo Starr’s Ludwig drum kit, which sold for a record $2.2 million, The Ludwig Beatles Ed Sullivan Show drumhead, which sold for a record price of $2.1 million, and The Beatles White Album, owned by Ringo Starr, that sold for $790,000.