Found in a record sleeve at car boot sale, Lennon’s £60k letter to Queen returning MBE
HIDDEN in a record sleeve among a box of old singles bought for £10 at a car boot sale more than 20 years ago, it was dismissed by its new owner as a copy.
But this letter has now been identified as a draft of the one John Lennon wrote to the Queen when he returned his MBE.
And experts say it could be worth up to £60,000. They believe the Beatle discarded the note because he accidentally smudged the ink. He sent another, almost identical, version to Buckingham Palace.
In the letter, dated November 15, 1969, Lennon said that he was returning his MBE, which had been awarded to all four Beatles in 1965 at the height of Beatlemania. He said he was doing so in protest at Britain’s involvement in the Biafran War in Nigeria, which began in 1967, and the UK’s backing of US military involvement in Vietnam. Lennon joked that it was also because his song, Cold Turkey, was falling down the charts.
The letter was signed with the name of Bag Productions, the public relations company he ran with his wife Yoko Ono.
Lennon had given his medal to his Auntie Mimi and collected it so it could be returned it to Buckingham Palace. He also wrote to the prime minister, Harold Wilson.
The owner of the draft letter, who lives in Merseyside but wishes to remain anonymous, took it to be valued at the Beatles Story museum in Liverpool this week.
Auctioneer Darren Julien said the man believed it was a copy and was ‘stunned’ to learn it could be worth up to £60,000.
Mr Julien said the handwriting was definitely Lennon’s, adding: ‘It’s one of those finds that is almost too good to be true. My theory is that John Lennon never sent this draft because of the smeared ink.’
Other items valued at the museum included a programme signed by all four Beatles from a show at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool on May 26, 1963. It is said to be worth £10,000.