John Lennon's 'Help!' guitar sells for a record $2.9 million at auction

Looks like someone didn't need any "Help!" spending their money on a unique collectible from The Beatles.

On Wednesday, the first day of its "Music Icons" sale at the Hard Rock Cafe New York, Julien's Auctions sold a Framus 12-string hootenanny acoustic guitar used by John Lennon to record several Beatles classics for a whopping $2.9 million.

According to the company, that makes it the most expensive Beatles guitar ever to sell at auction. The person who bought the guitar purchased it via a telephone bid, the auction house said.

The guitar was used by Lennon to record songs for their 1965 studio album "Help!" and film of the same name, helping create some of the band's biggest hits of the '60s.

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Presumed lost for 50 years, the guitar was recently discovered in an attic. of a 90-year-old man who once worked as the road manager for the '60s duo Peter and Gordon. The duo's Gordon Waller had gotten it from Lennon in 1965 and then passed it along to the road manager.

"We are absolutely thrilled and honored to have set a new world record with the sale of John Lennon's lost hootenanny guitar," Julien's Auctions CEO David Goodman said in a statement. "This guitar is not only a piece of music history but a symbol of John Lennon's enduring legacy."

Goodman called the record-breaking sale "a testament to the timeless appeal and reverence of The Beatles' music and John Lennon."

A previous Lennon acoustic guitar sold for a then-record $2.4 million, according to Julien's Auctions.