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Hendrix's burnt guitar leads rock auction in London
2008-09-03
LONDON (AFP) - The first guitar that rock legend Jimi Hendrix burned on stage, the only remaining fingerprints of Elvis Presley and the first contract signed by The Beatles all go on sale Thursday in a major auction of music memorabilia. Jim Morrison's last notebook, the last drumkit used by Led Zepplin's John Bonham and an unpublished song called "Mocking Bird" by David Bowie also feature in the sale, entitled "It's More than Rock and Roll" and organised by the Idea Generation Gallery. The top item is the first contract signed by The Beatles on January 24, 1962, which bears the names "John Winston Lennon", "George Harrison", "James Paul McCartney" and "Richard Starkey" (Ringo Starr). Harrison's father Harold and McCartney's dad James also signed the document as their sons were under the age of 21, while manager Brian Epstein added his name on October 1, 1962, after getting the fab four a deal with EMI for the release of "Love Me Do". Ted Owen, director of acquisitions at the Fame Bureau rock memorabilia firm, described the document as "the most important music contract of all time" which "completely changed the lives of The Beatles". "There's no other (contract) that's going to be historically, socially or politically as important as this," he said, adding he expected the document to sell for about 250,000 pounds (450,000 dollars, 300,000 euros). Also up for grabs is Hendrix's 1965 Fender Stratocaster, which he set alight after a landmark performance at London's Finsbury Astoria in March 1967, and which is estimated to be worth about half a million pounds. Hendrix was taken to hospital with minor hand injuries, during which the guitar was taken to the offices of his aide Tony Garland. It was kept at Garland's parents' garage in Hove in southern England, before Garland's nephew unearthed it in 2007. "When Hendrix set this guitar alight it marked a watershed in live performance. He raised the bar of what could be expected and paved the way for a series of imitations and pastiche that exist to this day," Owen said. Also in the auction is Morrison's last notebook, which contains lyrics, poetry and musings from The Doors frontman, fingerprints of Elvis on a gun permit and the Bechstein piano used by The Beatles to record one of their biggest hits, "Hey Jude".
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