Antiques Roadshow expert gushes over ‘most expensive thing he's ever seen' in 25-year career

Edinburgh Live

20-05-2025

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WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow expert was amazed at the sight of a guitar that once belonged to both The Beatles' John Lennon and George Harrison.
Expert Jon Baddeley was on hand to take a closer look at a unique guitar, with a large crowd gathered on the BBC daytime series to find out more.
He was met with the owner of the instrument and guitar expert Paul as Baddeley began: 'Now you've brought me in an exceptionally rare guitar with an even more interesting story behind it. But let's focus on the make first. It's a make I have rarely ever seen.'
Paul elaborated that the guitar was made by Bartell of California in the mid to late 1960s and was a 'very rare' fretless guitar prototype.
He added: 'And the story goes that the company owner has always said he gave one to John Lennon and he gave one to Jimi Hendrix. This is the Lennon one.'
The expert's attention then turned to the guest Ray who gave some more insight into how it came to be his.
'In the 1970s and 1980s, I was doing lots of recording sessions on guitar and one of the things I used to do regularly was sessions for Handmade Films (production company) that George Harrison started.
(Image: BBC)
'I was asked to play guitar, which was great, had lots of laughs and at the end of the session, George said 'I'm not sure what to do with this. You have a go.'
'And I just got handed the guitar. It's a strange old thing to play, because there's no frets.'
Ray began to play the guitar before stopping to tell the expert: 'But I played a few notes and he said 'You're definitely getting more out of it than I am.
''It's doing better for you, why don't you have it.''
'Well that's not a bad accolade that you can play better than George Harrison!', Baddeley joked. The guest replied: 'At the time, this was quite rock n'roll as this. It's not the greatest of rock n'roll guitars unless you're going to play slide or something like that.'
Baddeley then switched his attention to a photograph the guest had brought along, calling it the 'icing on the cake'.
'Because this is George Harrison in his house in Friar Park, and here's George standing at the back and just down here on the left hand side, is the guitar in question.
'And you can see there the makers name and the design below.
'So quite categorically, that puts that guitar in this room, in George Harrison's house.
'I think that's 100% certainty, it is what it is.'
It was then time to talk about value: 'To a guitar collector, initially, a very rare guitar.
'Then to somebody who's a The Beatles fan, to own a guitar that was once owned by both John Lennon and George Harrison, can you get a better history?
'Two of the most important rock stars of the 20th Century.'
(Image: BBC)
Baddeley briefly paused before revealing: 'I would suggest that at auction, I wouldn't be surprised if it made between £300,000 and £400,000.'
The audience largely gasped at the extortionate figures with the guest's eyes bulging in amazement. He remarked: 'Amazing. That surprises me, because there it's been on the stand, just playing it.
'I've never really thought about value with George being a mate and that. Wow.'
'It's a good thing you were there on the day, in the recording session and he gave it to you and here it is today', Baddeley said before asking the owner to play another song. After the guest took to the guitar once more, Baddeley called him a 'star' and the pair shook hands.
Later in a separate interview, the expert candidly shared: 'I think in 25 years, it's by far the most expensive thing I've ever seen.'
The guest commented: 'I don't know what to say actually, I'm really taken aback by it. I didn't realise it was worth that much money. It's lucky I don't keep it in the house.'
Concluding this segment of Antiques Roadshow, Baddeley added: 'What's really important is the provenance and there it was, in the photograph, in George Harrison's collection. Wow. You can't do better than that.'
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.