Classic car auctioneer Craig Jackson shells out over half a million US dollars for the guitar Paul McCartney learnt to play on.
While Jackson made his fortune by running collector car auctions in Arizona (and he himself has been collecting rare cars for over 20 years), another kind of collectable sparked the mogul's interest on July 28.At the Cooper Owen Music Legends Auction at Abbey Road Studios in London, he placed the highest bid on a 1950s REX acoustic guitar that Beatles legend Paul McCartney used to hone his skills in the '60s.
The guitar was owned by McCartney's friend Ian James, who reported that the Beatle learnt how to play his first chords on it. McCartney provided a letter of authenticity with the guitar, which James was reportedly selling to fund his retirement.
Auction house Cooper Owens told Reuters that the auction attracted bidders from Europe, the US and Russia, and that they had expected it to sell for approximately 100,000 pounds. Jackson's winning bid was 330,000 pounds (approx. US $613,970).
Nostalgic Baby Boomer Jackson said in a press release that he was proud to own, "such an important piece of rock memorabilia."
