Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

The following text is from the Liverpool Echo on May 21 2001.

Quote:This harmonica, which belonged to John Lennon, has been sold at auction for £2,400.

He gave it to a close friend, writing on the inside of the box lid: "Don't judge me for my goodness or try me for my badness. If you care to judge me, then try me as a man."

The harmonica went under the hammer at auctioneers in Kent. The buyer was a telephone bidder who wishes to remain anonymous.

I am going to go out on the limb again and suggest that this harmonica is in the Key of C.

Wow, you'd think that it'd go for more than $3360.USD.

Why own a £2,400 GBP John Lennon harmonica when one can own a Bob Dylan harmonica for only $14,950 USD??

Does it have Dylan's drool still on it? If so, I'll buy it!!

Call me a doubting Thomas again, but I have a hard time believing the harmonica is real. The autograph doesn't look authentic and the writing on the lid doesn't sound like anything Lennon would have written, he was a lot more clever than
that! There have been many 'Lennon' harmonicas auctioned off over the years, I don't think he gave that many away. Just my 2 cents.

Larry (DT) Wassgren: I have no first hand information about this, but don't you think the writing in the box sounds like John? "Don't judge me for my goodness or try me for my badness." sounds like JL to me. Who knows how many harmonicas that he had during the early days. I know I have gone through a half dozen playing Beatle songs and so wouldn't he have gone through a number? I don't think that this is so far fetched, but I it would be nice to have more details.

O ye of little faith...

My middle name is actually Thomas, maybe that has something to do with my lack of faith! Anyway, I'm no expert on autographs and this could be for
real. I'm thinking the harmonica would have been
given to a friend in the early 60's as John said
it started to become embarassing as they were using harmonica on too many songs. So if he wrote
those words inside the box, his style of writing was more humorous and he played with words more back then. I guess it just sounds too serious to be coming from John in the early 60's. Of course this is just my opinion, and it could be the real thing. Maybe he gave it to a friend later on. If it is real, it was a bargain as original sets of Beatle autographs are going for around $3500 and here someone got an original Lennon musical instrument for the same price. As far as auctions go, I've been to the Beatle Auction in Liverpool a few times(in August during Beatle week). I used to go with Johnny Guitar, my good friend who passed away two years ago, and Alan Stratton who played in the Kansas City Five in the early 60's in Liverpool. Anyway, they pointed out how every year they auction off the two original Reslo Ribbon microphones that The Beatles used in the Cavern! There were only two, but every year they auction two more off. They thought it was very dishonest, which it is. So there are people from all parts of the world who will claim they have the original microphones from the Cavern and they don't, they just think they do because they trusted the auction house! You really have to be careful these days.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

As a long time harmonica player, that was certainly never used on any Beatles records. Lennon played chromatics and later diatonics. The harmonica pictured is an octave harp. It has two reeds in each hole tuned an octave apart. Since the 2 reeds are tuned slightly different there is a tremolo effect. You can't easily bend notes on these types.
Harp may have been Lennon's... I've got lots of harps I never use. I can't see the autograph/legend good enough but it sure doesn't sound like something he'd write, huh? Of course it WOULD be very difficult to write all that w/ a pen in the confines of a small harmonica case.
I'm sure Hohner would tell anyone interested when that harp was produced. It isn't in the current catalogue.
I'd feel mighty suspicious if I'd paid that much money for that harmonica...

Rick Harper

It'd be interesting to know. It doesn't sound like Lennon although that is a good point about examining handwriting on the back of a harmonica cover.

does anyone know what kind of mouth organ (harmonica) john used in the early days or if it is still made? thanks