 The market for Beatles memorabilia is lucrative |
A leather collar worn by John Lennon during the late 1960s has fetched �117,250 at auction - nearly eight times its expected sale price. A signed copy of a management deal involving the Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein also smashed its estimate, reaching �122,850.
A Vox Kensington guitar used by Lennon and George Harrison went for �100,000.
The sale at Christie's in London was the most successful pop auction in the company's history, making �788,643.
Christie's head of popular entertainment Sarah Hodgson said there had been "frenzied" bidding from international collectors throughout the sale.
Private collector
The Beatles management deal memorabilia is dated 1 October 1962 - a period at the beginnings of the group's recording career.
Estimated to fetch no more than �35,000, it was bought by a British private collector for more than three times that amount.
The Lennon neckwear, which he wore throughout 1967 and 1968, went to a private collector in the US.
A coloured felt-pen drawing by Lennon fetched �10,000; a letter with his signature �5,500; and a pen-and-ink drawing called Happy Fish, �9,500.
An early Elvis Presley US concert poster sold for �10,000, while a Salvador Dali-inspired watercolour by former Sex Pistol Sid Vicious fetched �1,600. A poster from Jimi Hendrix's Experience concert sold for �1,500.
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