Who’d have thought that a cue card could be worth so much money? Granted, the card was the one on which John Lennon penned his original lyrics, in black magic marker, for “Give Peace A Chance.” And it was given to me by John when I was a teenager helping at his famous Bed-In in Montreal. To me, it was an incredible souvenir from my ultimate hero rock; to my mother, it was a piece of rubbish which I had to stop her chucking out. There was no such thing as rock memorabilia in 1969. Who could predicted what big business it would become? John Lennon.
I’m grateful to John for many things; for his friendship; for helping me to sell my first piece of writing. But he was also the biggest Beatles’ fan ever. He gave me the lyrics saying, “Take this. It’ll be worth something one day.” As ever, John was ahead of his time.
I’d kept the lyrics on the wall of my study, a souvenir of happy times, and basically forgot about all about them. Then one day, my roof leaked and a friend, Simon, pointed out that the lyrics were perilously close to the leak and hadn’t I’d better take better care of them? Simon was right so I put the lyrics somewhere safe. Under my bed.
After a while, my nerve went. I worried more and more about fire, flood or theft and, on a good day, all three. More importantly, no one was able to enjoy John’s lyrics. It was time to sell.
I’d never publicised my gift so no one knew the lyrics still existed. I always dreaded walking cold into Sotheby’s/ Christie’s/ Bonhams, Lennon lyrics under my arm, calling, “Yoo-hoo! Guess what I’ve got?”
And then, whilst being thrown out, adding, “And Elvis is staying in my guest room!”
Fate was kind. A friend of mine in the auction business introduced me to a top rock memorabilia expert, Carey Wallace. A meeting was arranged. Now all I had to do was prove provenance. Most rock items come via a circulative route: Mick Jagger's cousin’s neighbour’s milkman found a signed photo in a dustbin; is it real? Fortunately, I didn’t have that problem.
John and Yoko’s Bed-In was well documented in photos, film and folklore. I’d written the odd article about my friendship with John, and also had snapshots of the event which hadn’t been photo-shopped. It took the handwriting experts just minutes to authenticate the lyrics and John’s writing and, equally importantly, my right to sell them.
To my relief, it was one of the most cast-iron provenances Christie’s had ever seen.
I had many highpoints during the run-up to the auction, but one of the greatest was seeing another item up for sale: the original Sgt Pepper drumskin; painted by Peter Blake; an icon of our times. As any Beatlemaniac knows, I was living the dream.
On July 10th, 2008, I sold the “Give Peace A Chance” lyrics in auction for £350,000. Thank you, John. And thanks for not throwing them out, Mother!
So the moral of my story is: If a rock star gives you something, take it.
I’m grateful to John for many things; for his friendship; for helping me to sell my first piece of writing. But he was also the biggest Beatles’ fan ever. He gave me the lyrics saying, “Take this. It’ll be worth something one day.” As ever, John was ahead of his time.
I’d kept the lyrics on the wall of my study, a souvenir of happy times, and basically forgot about all about them. Then one day, my roof leaked and a friend, Simon, pointed out that the lyrics were perilously close to the leak and hadn’t I’d better take better care of them? Simon was right so I put the lyrics somewhere safe. Under my bed.
After a while, my nerve went. I worried more and more about fire, flood or theft and, on a good day, all three. More importantly, no one was able to enjoy John’s lyrics. It was time to sell.
I’d never publicised my gift so no one knew the lyrics still existed. I always dreaded walking cold into Sotheby’s/ Christie’s/ Bonhams, Lennon lyrics under my arm, calling, “Yoo-hoo! Guess what I’ve got?”
And then, whilst being thrown out, adding, “And Elvis is staying in my guest room!”
Fate was kind. A friend of mine in the auction business introduced me to a top rock memorabilia expert, Carey Wallace. A meeting was arranged. Now all I had to do was prove provenance. Most rock items come via a circulative route: Mick Jagger's cousin’s neighbour’s milkman found a signed photo in a dustbin; is it real? Fortunately, I didn’t have that problem.
John and Yoko’s Bed-In was well documented in photos, film and folklore. I’d written the odd article about my friendship with John, and also had snapshots of the event which hadn’t been photo-shopped. It took the handwriting experts just minutes to authenticate the lyrics and John’s writing and, equally importantly, my right to sell them.
To my relief, it was one of the most cast-iron provenances Christie’s had ever seen.
I had many highpoints during the run-up to the auction, but one of the greatest was seeing another item up for sale: the original Sgt Pepper drumskin; painted by Peter Blake; an icon of our times. As any Beatlemaniac knows, I was living the dream.
On July 10th, 2008, I sold the “Give Peace A Chance” lyrics in auction for £350,000. Thank you, John. And thanks for not throwing them out, Mother!
So the moral of my story is: If a rock star gives you something, take it.
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