LOS ANGELES - John Lennon held out the
promise he could bring out more musical greatness in legendary
guitarist Eric Clapton in a letter that could fetch as much as $30,000
when it is sold at auction next month, the organizers of the sale said
on Monday.
The signed, hand-written letter by the Beatle, who died in 1980 at
the age of 40, is one of a selection from some of the world’s great
musicians that will go under the hammer in Los Angeles at the Profiles
in History auction on Dec. 18.
In a draft letter dated Sept. 29, 1971, Lennon expressed his respect
and admiration for British guitarist Clapton and suggested that they
form a band together.
“Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you
that had been so far evident in your music. I hope to bring out the
same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we
get together,” Lennon wrote in the letter.
The letter will hold special significance for Beatles fans as
auctioneer Joe Maddalena said it was widely known that there were
problems in the Fab Four’s relationships with each other, and that
Clapton had almost become a Beatle.
Clapton played in the Plastic Ono Band, formed by Lennon and Yoko Ono
in 1969 before the breakup of the Beatles in 1970. He also played on
the George Harrison song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which was on
the Beatles’ White Album.
“There was a point in time when George Harrison thought about leaving
the band and his replacement was Clapton, so this letter is a link of
what could have been,” Maddalena said.
The letter is one of 300 manuscripts and letters from literary,
musical and political greats, that will be auctioned from the holdings
of an American collector.
“What we know of history is from the written word, without these
letters, it would all be verbal. It’s a really unique area of collecting
as you’re getting a glimpse into people’s minds,” Maddalena said.
Other highlights include a handwritten letter from George Washington,
with a pre-sale estimate of up to $300,000, and a Charles Dickens
manuscript with an obituary of novelist William Thackeray, expected to
fetch between $40,000 and $60,000.
Also on the auction block is a signed, handwritten letter from German
composer Ludwig van Beethoven to Tobias Haslinger, a friend of his
publisher, in which the musician discussed the second performance of his
Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis, two of his most revered works.
The letter, written in German, is undated, but both the Ninth
Symphony and Missa Solemnis debuted in performances in 1824. Because of
the rarity of the letter, it is estimated it will sell for between
$40,000 and $60,000.
Other items going under the hammer include a signed letter in Russian
by composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which has a pre-sale estimate of
$10,000 to $15,000, and a letter by composer George Gershwin dated March
24, 1932, in which he compares his compositions “Rhapsody in Blue” and
“An American in Paris”.
The Gershwin letter is expected to sell for as much as $3,000, according to the auction house.
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