The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper drum sells for over $1m

That's one expensive drum
That's one expensive drum (Image credit: Christie's Images Limited)

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.

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).