Rare Beatles Guitar Expected To Fetch £150k At London Auction

'Please Mr Auctioneer..'

A rare guitar played by Beatles pair John Lennon and George Harrison worth about £150,000 will go on display in London this week.

The Beatles VOX guitar, a custom prototype made in 1966 and later given to "Magic Alex" Mardas, a friend of the band, will be unveiled at The Stafford London hotel in St. James's Palace.

After going on display from Thursday to Saturday it will be taken to New York for auction.

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The guitar, one of a few known to exist that was played by both Lennon and Harrison, is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000 at Julien's Auctions on May 18.

Harrison can be seen rehearsing with the guitar on I Am The Walrus during the Magical Mystery Tour of September 1967. Lennon also played it in the promotional video for Hello, Goodbye but it is not in the final version of the video.

Lennon gave the guitar to Alex Mardas with a plaque on the back reading: "To Magic Alex/ Alexi thank you/ for been [sic] a friend/ 2-5-1967 John."

The guitar was built by Mike Bennett with electronics by Dick Denney of Vox guitars.