The piano used by John Lennon to compose songs on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has sold at auction for $3,247,000.
It was part of the collection of Jim Irsay, who died in May 2025 aged 65. Irsay was a US billionaire who owned the Indianapolis Colts American football team, and was worth an estimated $4.8 billion.
Irsay amassed an extensive and hugely valuable collection of pop memorabilia objects, including guitars previously owned by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Prince, Kurt Cobain, David Gilmour, Les Paul, and Bob Dylan. In 2017 he paid $2.2 million for a Ludwig drum kit belonging to Ringo Starr.
Lennon’s Victorian Broadwood upright piano was used to compose songs including ‘A Day In The Life’ and ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’. It was the most expensive Beatles-related item in the auction.
Other items included Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Hey Jude’, which fetched $1.016 million, and those for ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’, which sold for $53,340. A Yamaha bass guitar used by McCartney from 1979 to 1984 sold for $228,600, and a Höfner bass guitar signed by him sold for $19,050.
The drum head used on Ringo Starr’s kit for The Beatles first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964 sold for $2.881 million, and Starr’s Ludwig drum kit used from May 1963 to February 1964 fetched $2.393 million. A pinky ring worn by Starr during the Beatlemania years sold for $120,650, and the snare drum from his second Ludwig kit fetched $92,250.
A Gibson SG guitar used by George Harrison from 1966 to 1968 sold for $2.271 million. The instrument appeared in the music video for ‘Lady Madonna’.
Two guitars previously belonging to Lennon were also in the sale. A sunburst Rickenbacker 1996 and an orange Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins each sold for $1.27 million.
Other Beatles items included a signed poster from 1967 ($177,800), a signed photograph from 1963 ($60,950), an affidavit filed by McCartney to break up The Beatles, annotated by Lennon ($165,100), a RIAA gold disc for ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ ($158,750), a signed Liverpool Airport sign ($40,640), a 1967 letter by Lennon about Transcendental Meditation ($40,640), two unused Shea Stadium tickets from 1966 (16,510), a set of autographs ($11,430), Brian Epstein’s business card ($11,430), a signed 1962 publicity card ($10,795), a 1977 postcard sent by Lennon ($10,795), a signed Cavern Club membership card ($8,225), an umpire’s locker used during the 1965 Shea Stadium show ($7,620), a 1969 letter from Lennon to his aunt and uncle ($7,620), a 1966 Shea Stadium ticket stub ($4,826), a signed newspaper clipping from 1962 ($4,064), an unused 1966 ticket for Suffolk Downs concert ($3,048), autographs of McCartney and Harrison ($3,048), an unused 1964 ticket for Indiana State Fair concert ($2,794)
The Jim Irsay Collection was sold by Christie’s in New York. The sale also included David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster, as used on a number of Pink Floyd recordings, which fetched a record-breaking $14.5 million.
