BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — Julien’s Auctions has sold what some have dubbed the most important Beatle guitar to hit the auction block. A John Lennon original 1962 J-160E Gibson acoustic guitar had been lost for over 50 years and represented a rare and significant guitar to Lennon’s history. It attained a record price at auction of $2,410,000 Saturday, November 7.

Back in September 1962, the Beatles’ John Lennon and George Harrison each purchase jumbo J-160E Gibson acoustic guitars from that were said to have been flown to England by jet from America after being specially ordered. The two guitars were identical apart from the serial numbers.

The Beatles traveled from Liverpool to London’s EMI Studios on September 11, 1962, the day after receiving the guitars. The first song recorded that day was “P.S. I Love You,” followed by “Love Me Do” It was Lennon who used this guitar on many of the recordings they did in 1962 and 1963 that required an acoustic guitar. John so loved this particular guitar that he would take it home and wrote songs on it with Paul McCartney. Beatles hits like “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Please, Please, Me,” “All My Loving,” “From Me to You,” “This Boy” and more were written with this guitar. Historians and Beatles fans can also find this particular guitar on the UK singles “Please Please Me/Ask Me Why” and “From Me to You/Thank You Girl.”

Rounding out the sale were the most famous of the seven known Beatles drop-T logo drum heads – the Ed Sullivan drum head at $2,125,000 and Elvis Presley’s 24K gold leaf piano that achieved a record price of $600,000.

For more information, www.juliensauctions.com or 310-836-1818.