A Resonet Futurama guitar, played by George Harrison during the Beatles‘ early years, sold for $1.27 million at a rock & roll memorabilia auction house in Nashville earlier this week.
Julien’s Auctions originally priced the guitar between $600,000 to $800,000, meaning it sold for nearly double the lower end of its estimate. The $1.27 million price tag makes it the most expensive Harrison-owned guitar ever sold at auction.
The “Quiet Beatle” purchased the Futurama in 1959 from a music store in Liverpool. He played it at over 324 Beatles performances, as well as during the band’s first recording sessions at Polydor Records.
The guitar’s distinctive tone can be heard on “My Bonnie,” the 1961 Tony Sheridan single, which features Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. Harrison prominently used the guitar on the Lennon-Harrison penned “Cry for a Shadow,” also recorded in 1961.
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The two-day auction titled “Played, Worn, & Torn II” began Wednesday and featured more than 800 pieces of music history owned and used by icons like Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears, Dolly Parton, The Rolling Stones, and Nirvana. On Thursday, Prince’s Sadowsky Telecaster style guitar — which Prince owned and played during his 1986 Parade tour and an Eighties performance of “America” in Nice, France — sold for $381,000.
The Harrison estate and Dark Horse Records recently released the 50th anniversary edition of his fourth solo album Living in a Material World. The package features a new mix by engineer Paul Hicks, 11 original tracks from the 1973 original, a 60-page book, rarities like “Miss O’Dell,” and the 7-inch single “Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond),” which Harrison gave to Ringo Starr for his self-titled 1973 album.
