JOHN LEATHER JACKET EXPECTED TO FETCH MORE THAN £20,000

A LEATHER jacket owned and worn by John Lennon is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000 when it goes under the hammer in Newbury next Thursday.

The unique, unbranded, lined black leather jacket was purchased by Mr Lennon when he and The Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney were in New York opening the new Apple Offices in 1968.

In 1973, Mr Lennon gave the jacket to his percussionist friend Bleu Ocean – former member of ‘The Lower East Side Gang’.

Mr Ocean sold the jacket to the present owner in 1996.

The jacket has been acknowledged by the John Lennon Estate to be in free circulation and is sold with a letter of provenance from Mr Ocean and endorsed to the reverse to the present owner ‘Love And Luck Yoko Ono 98′.

It shows signs of general use, with belt and some popper studs missing and two seam splits to the lower back.

Mr Lennon has been photographed wearing the jacket, one occasion being on ‘The Beatles Mad Day Out’, July 28 1969 at The Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill Gate, London.

It will be auctioned by Special Auction Services