No, I don't mean he bought it with an agreement to make payments. I mean he stole it from someone else in Liverpool during an early gig. Thus it might have been karma years later when his J-160 "went missing" (an event Mal Evans said he took a lot of heat for.)
Andy Babiuk's "Beatles Gear" shows on page 21 (1st edition) the receipt for the Club 40 from Hessy's Music Store in Liverpool, dated August 28, 1959, with John's Aunt Mimi's signature. See Brammy's post above.
