Beatle guitar goes up for auction

The guitar was used by Harrison in the late 1960s

A guitar played by George Harrison and John Lennon is expected to fetch up to £270,000 at auction.

The Gibson SG guitar was used by Harrison from 1966-1969 and by Lennon during the White Album sessions.

It will go under the hammer at Christie's auction of rock and entertainment memorabilia in New York on 17 December.

Other lots in the sale include a Jimi Hendrix school yearbook and a biology test completed by Buddy Holly.

Hall of Fame

Harrison gave the guitar to Peter Ham - of the rock band Badfinger - in 1969.

When Ham died in 1974, it was stored away by his brother and was not re-discovered until the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame contacted him in preparation for a Badfinger retrospective in 2002.

Since then the guitar has been on loan to the Hall of Fame, in Ohio.

In total there are 70 lots of Beatles memorabilia featured in the sale.

They include a union agreement signed by the Beatles before their legendary performance on the Ed Sullivan show.

Lennon's Vox guitar organ from the 1960s is also expected to reach a top price of £27,000.

Film scripts

Original interview tapes between Lennon and a reporter for The Washington Star Newspaper, recorded in February 1975, could also fetch the same price.

Other items in the auction include a letter written by Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, in which he describes his hallucinations after taking LSD.

It was written in 1991 - three years before he committed suicide at the age of 27 - and is expected to fetch £6,500.

Another highlight is a guitar played by Keith Richards during the Rolling Stones' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

In addition there is a group of revised script sheets from Marilyn Monroe's final film, Something's Got to Give, and the original contracts for Ocean's 11, signed by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr.

The 400-lot sale is expected to raise £1.6m in total.