The Formby banjo with an £80k string to its bow
A BANJO owned by both George Harrison and George Formby is set to sell for £80,000 at auction.
The banjolele was made in the 1930s for Formby whose comic songs made him one of Britain’s top performers of the era.
The Lancastrian entertainer was very attached to his John E. Dallas “Special Model E” and kept it until his death in 1961.
It was acquired a few years later by The Beatles guitarist, a well-known fan.
Harrison cherished the banjo, which has a walnut neck, walnut veneered maple body and Formby’s name on the peghead. He played it in front of famous contemporaries including Bob Dylan and sold it on to the George Formby Society before his death in 2001.
In 2008, the instrument changed hands again and was on display until 2015 in The Beatles Story Exhibition in Liverpool.
Formby started his recording career in 1926 and found fame with risque comic songs including When I’m Cleaning Windows and Mother, What’ll I Do Now? During the Second World War he worked for ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association, performing for three million servicemen and women.
Auctioneer Ted Owen, of Ted Owen & Co Ltd, said: “We believe Harrison acquired the banjolele some time in the late-1960s specifically because of the George Formby connection.
“Harrison had an appreciation of a wide range of music and it is nice to see how much he appreciate Formby’s body of work.”
The timed online auction ends on March 13.