A black leather jacket worn on stage by the The Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison, goes under the hammer as a part of of Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia sale, scheduled to be held on December 12, in Knightsbride, London. This jacket, one of the most important items of Beatles clothing ever to come onto the market, has an estimate of between £90,000-£120,000 ($143,000-$190,000).
Harrison has worn this black jacket in 1960s, during Beatles performance in Hamburg, Germany and then at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, and after that the band developed their signature style with matching black suits. The jacket, that is labelled Meyer-Schuchardt Sport und Leder Hamburg Monckebergstr. 6 Lubeck Breitestr. 37, size 50, and is inscribed GEO in green ink, also comes by a limited edition deluxe version of George Harrison – Living in the Material World, the documentary made about his life.
George Harrison gave the jacket to his elder brother Harry. It was then passed on to Harry’s son Paul who used to wear the jacket to school in the 1970s. Until now, the jacket has remained within George’s family. The same jacket has been seen on some of the early images of the rock-band, particularly in photographs taken by Astrid Kirchherr and Jürgen Vollmer.
Stephanie Connell, Director of the Entertainment Memorabilia department commented “This leather jacket is instantly recognisable and was an important part of the Beatles image in their early years. George Harrison was one of the pioneers of this signature style, taking inspiration from his peers in Hamburg at the start of the 1960s. It is extremely exciting to see such an iconic part of Beatles history emerge onto the market, this fresh piece of important music memorabilia never offered at auction before is sure to garner significant interest during the sale in December. With the recent launch of Bonhams office in Cologne, it is a great opportunity to bring this item back to Germany, where the Beatles spent such an important part of their formative years.”
Other interesting George Harrison’s items of clothing, that also going on sale are black leather boots, inscribed inside Mr George 2062, which he wore during the filming of A Hard Days Night, 1964, estimated between £12,000-£15,000 ($19,000-$24,000) and the orange shirt, which he wore during the 1971 benefit Concert for Bangladesh at the Madison Square Garden in New York in front of 40,000 audience, estimated between £6,000-£8,000 ($9,500-$12,700).
