John Lennon's Piano Goes on the Block in July

An Internet startup being organized by Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood and auctioneer Ted Owen will offer John Lennon's 30-year-old Steinway piano for auction some time in July. The piano is now on display in The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool and will remain there until October 9, which would have been Lennon's 60th birthday.

The wood-finished upright Steinway was built at the Hamburg factory and purchased by Lennon in 1970, and is the same instrument on which he composed his hit song "Imagine." It could bring as much as $1.6 million at auction, making it the most expensive item of pop memorabilia ever sold, according to an eOffer.com spokesperson.

An unnamed seller is putting up the piano for sale. "The owner is a private collector and a great Lennon fan and he's had it now for nearly 10 years," said Owen. "Imagine," originally recorded in 1971, became a number one hit when it was re-released shortly after Lennon's death. The former Beatle died 20 years ago after being shot by obsessed fan Mark Chapman outside the Dakota, the Manhattan apartment building where Lennon lived with his wife, Yoko Ono.

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