John Lennon guitar could sell for more than £400,000

A guitar that was owned by Beatles guitarist and singer John Lennon is expected to raise more than £400,000 at auction. The Gretsch 6120 model was played by Lennon when the band recorded Paperback Writer at London’s famous Abbey Road studios in 1966. It is being sold by the late Beatle’s cousin David Birch, who was given the guitar a year later.

Bidding begins online at 16:00 GMT, ahead of a live auction at Le Meridien hotel in central London on Sunday 23 November. The guitar was developed in the 1950s and was favoured by musicians including blues legend Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend of The Who.

The Gretsch 6120 model was developed in the 1950s in the United States. It is described on auction website tracksauction.com as “one of the most significant of John’s guitars to come on to the market in the last 30 years”.

The website says it was played “whilst the group were approaching the peak of their recording powers”. The guitar comes with photographs of Lennon playing it with the rest of the band. Recent auctions of other Beatles memorabilia have included the front door of a Liverpool home once lived in by Paul McCartney, andjackets worn by George Harrison and Ringo Starr.