Guitar bought by teenage George Harrison for £58 sells for more than £1 million

A guitar bought by George Harrison for about £58 has sold at auction for more than £1 million.

The Futurama electric guitar was bought by The Beatles star when he was a 16-year-old apprentice electrician in 1959 and was paid for in 44 instalments after his mother signed a hire purchase agreement at Frank Hessy’s music shop in Liverpool.

It went under the hammer in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday at Julien’s Auctions’ Played, Worn & Torn sale, fetching 1.27 million dollars (£1.03 million) – twice its initial estimate.

Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, said the figure set a world record for the highest sale of a George Harrison guitar.

The Futurama electric guitar was bought by George Harrison for about £58 (The Beatles Story/PA)PA Media - The Beatles Story

“George Harrison’s iconic Futurama guitar, one of the most important guitars in rock and roll history and formative to The Beatles’ sound, has made history at today’s auction,” Mr Nolan said.

“We’re beyond thrilled to add this Harrison guitar to the Julien’s Auctions’ million-dollar club, which already includes guitars from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and Kurt Cobain.”

The auction house sold John Lennon’s Hootenanny acoustic guitar for 3 million dollars (£2.3 million) earlier this year and has previously sold an acoustic guitar of Lennon’s for 2.4 million dollars (£1.8 million).

The guitar was sold by a collector who bought it in 2019, but the instrument almost had a different owner when it was offered in a competition for Beatles fans in Beats Instrumental magazine in 1964.

The competition was won by an AJ Thompson, who lived in Saltdean near Brighton, East Sussex, but, when offered the chance to have money instead of the guitar he took the cash, Mr Nolan said.

He told the PA news agency: “He probably took about £100 at most, because that would be the intrinsic value of the guitar at the time.

“He probably took his friends and family out for a nice evening and a good dinner and some drinks and then went on with his life. If only… Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve!”