Looking at Lennon's tinted glasses,
up for auction last night.
Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty
It's a mark of how tightly Lennonmania holds its grip, a quarter-century after the man's death, that a mere 12 items in his possession last night fetched £1 million at auction.
Admittedly those items were pretty special: the manuscript of All You Need Is Love, salvaged from the studio after the Beatles' final TV appearance in 1967 (gone at £600,000); a pair of signature spectacles, plus box addressed to the man himself (£55,000), and – totemically – the military tunic worn by Lennon during the 1966 Life magazine photoshoot that is supposed to have inspired Peter Blake's designs for Sgt Pepper (£100,000). The jacket, reports Gigwise, was thrown out after John and Yoko had a spring clean in 1977 and ended up in a New York charity shop.
"The most definitive collection of Beatles memorabilia ever assembled," say the auctioneers, and you don't doubt, this once, that they're not exaggerating. But where does all this leave Lennonistas on more modest budgets? Over to eBay we skip ...
A quick browse suggests you could, if you fancied it, get an original Imagine LP ("played three or four times, nice shine") for less than £25. Those aiming for something to show off might be tempted by a John Lennon mini replica guitar ("a close replica of one of the guitars most associated with John Lennon, the Give Peace A Chance acoustic, complete with John/Yoko doodles"), yours for under £20.
A baby vest, vgc, from the John Lennon Real Love collection, currently under a quid? Or a pair of those infamous specs for not much more (replica, we admit)?
But surely the bejewelled, screaming highlight of any collection must be a Royal Doulton character jug featuring a Lennon bust and designed by Stanley James Taylor. Mint condition, people! Move fast!
