John Lennon's 'Paperback Writer' Guitar Sells for $530K to Colts Owner
Jim Irsay explains why he paid half a million dollars for the iconic instrument.
Last November, John Lennon's Gretsch guitar, the instrument the rock legend used to record the Beatles' 1966 classic "Paperback Writer," hit the auction block, with TracksAuction, the company selling the instrument, calling it "the most significant of John's guitars to come onto the market in the last 30 years." Lennon's cousin, David Birch, had owned the instrument since 1967, but pulled the iconic guitar from auction after it failed to reach its $600,000 reserve.
It was hardly the end of the story, though. For months before and after the auction, Chris McKinney, the guitar curator for Indianapolis Colts owner and collector Jim Irsay, had been in contact with Birch, hoping to avoid the auction and buy the guitar directly on behalf of Irsay. When the instrument didn't sell at auction, Irsay paid $530,000 for the Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins hollow body.
Lennon guitar used on 'Paperback Writer' and other sessions with the Beatles is a significant piece of history," Irsay tells Rolling Stone. "John Lennon's guitars are as special as it gets. Instruments like this rarely become available, so anything John Lennon used is some of the most important historical musical archives that exist on the planet."
BY JASON NEWMAN
Source: Rolling Stone
