In blazer and cap, Lennon aged 11: Family album image from 1952 of young Beatle with his aunt among several being auctioned next month
Mr Birch is selling the photos, along with a Gretsch 6120 guitar Lennon gave him after he used it on The Beatles’ 1966 hit Paperback Writer and which could fetch up to $1million (£630,000). The average house price across the UK is £189,306. But the auctioneers are confident the guitar will be hotly contested for by collectors because it comes with a truly extraordinary provenance. Lennon gave the guitar to his cousin, David Birch, in November 1967, a year after Paperback Writer was recorded in April 1966 at London’s Abbey Road studios. Mr Birch said he had fancied forming his own band and asked if he could have one of his famous relative’s guitars on a visit to Lennon’s country mansion Kenwood in Weybridge, Surrey. ‘I was just cheeky enough to ask John for one of his spare guitars,’ he said. ‘I had my eye on a blue Fender Stratocaster lying in the studio, but John suggested the Gretsch and gave it to me.’
Mr Birch has owned the guitar ever since. It is even more remarkable because Lennon was photographed playing it during the Paperback Writer recording session, and the photograph was published in the Beatles Monthly Book magazine in June 1966. The photographer also took several close-up shots of the woodgrain on the guitar’s headstock. Experts say when these images of the wood grain are compared to the wood grain on the headstock of the actual guitar the two can be seen to match up identically. The guitar is being sold together with a copy of the Beatles Monthly Book photograph and some charming shots from Mr Birch’s family album.
Source: The Daily Mail, UK
