Guitar Once Played By George Harrison Sells For $490,000 At Local Auction
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A guitar that George Harrison played in 1963 – when Beatlemania was just beginning to take fight – sold for nearly half a million dollars at an auction at the Times Square Hard Rock Café this week.
Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions said the 1963 Mastersound electric guitar went for $490,000 Friday to an undisclosed bidder at the Music Icons auction.
Julien's said Harrison borrowed it from a British music store and played it on stage several times in England and in Channel Islands in the summer of 1963.
It was offered during a two-day rock memorabilia auction.
A so-called ``penguin'' suit that Elvis Presley wore on stage in Las Vegas in 1975 sold for nearly $122,000. Presley's marriage certificate from his 1967 wedding to Priscilla Presley sold for over $40,000.
A vest worn by Jimi Hendrix sold for over $59,000. A tank top Madonna wore sold for $25,000.
At the same auction last year, another guitar played by George Harrison and by John Lennon – a 1962 Rickenbacker – sold for $657,000. That guitar was used in the Beatles' recording of "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
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