MusicRadar

That's one expensive drum

View in gallery

When Christie's first announced its rock and pop memorabilia auction for July, it gave the star attraction (the drumskin used on the cover of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) a 'conservative' £100,000 - £150,000 estimate. Times that by four and you'll get close to the eventual selling price: a staggering £541,250 ($1.07m).

In fact, all the big-draw items outsold their estimates. John Lennon's handwritten Give Peace A Chance lyrics and sunglasses sold for £421,240 and £39,650 respectively and Pete Townshend's Gibson SG Special went for £32,450.

Another batch of lost Jimi Hendrix recordings took £48,050, while his stripy flared trousers and 1966 Marshall amp fetched £20,000 and £25,000 on the nose.

Buyers details have not been released, but we're hoping to see a well-dressed one-man-band singing Give Peace A Chance on the doorstep of his re-mortgaged mansion very soon.