George Harrison's Early Guitar The Beatles Will Be Auctioned In The United States

George Harrison menggunakan gitar Futurama (Instagram @ juliens_auctions)

JAKARTA - The Futurama electric guitar used by George Harrison in the early days of The Beatles will be auctioned through Julien's Auctions in Nashville, Tennessee, United States in November.

Currently, the guitar is still on display until October 17 at the Beatles Story museum located in Liverpool, England.

Meanwhile, the guitar was bought by George when he was still an intern electrical technician in 1959. At that time, he was still 16 years old.

It was stated that young George got his guitar for 58 pounds (around Rp1.18 million). He bought it in 44 installments at Frank Hessy's music store at Liverpool.

It is estimated that George's guitar will be sold at auctions of more than 1 million US dollars or around Rp. 15.66 billion.

"We know he played this guitar in more than 324 shows at Cavern and several times in Hamburg, Germany, in 1960 and 1961," said Martin Nolan as Executive Director of Julien's Auctions, citing the BBC, Thursday, October 10.

"We estimate, conservatively, (will be sold) 600,000 to 800,000 US dollars. But I think the guitar will sell for more than a million," he continued.

Meanwhile, Harrison's Futurama guitar was sold by a collector who bought it in 2019.

The instrument was once owned by a different person when offered in a competition for Beatles fans in Beats Instrumental magazine in 1964. The competition was won by AJ Thompson. When offered the opportunity to have money instead of a guitar, he took cash.

"He probably took around 100 (IDR 2 million) at most, that's why the guitar's intrinsic value at the time," said Martin Nolan.

"He might take his friends and family out to enjoy a fun night and a delicious dinner and drink, then move on with his life," he added.

Furthermore, Martin called George's guitar one of the most valuable collections to enter the auction. He said the items associated with Fab Four were among the most popular celebrity items.

"These items have always been the center of attention. These items deserve to be collected, and are known around the world," concluded Martin Nolan.