- Title: Princess Diana letter, John Lennon portrait among memorabilia headed to auction
- Date: 18th April 2024
- Summary: WOKING, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 15, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LENNON PORTRAIT BY SUTCLIFFE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PARTNER AT EWBANK’S AUCTION HOUSE, ANDREW EWBANK, SAYING: “We verified this as having been hanging in John Lennon's Kenwood home in the sunroom, which is just up the road from us here in Surrey. And we've matched that picture off, we've attributed it to
- Embargoed: 2nd May 2024 11:23
- Keywords: Dr. No Ewbank's Frankenstein James Bond John Lennon portrait Princess Diana letter Sean Connery Stuart Sutcliffe The Beatles auction
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA004560516042024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE GRAPHIC MATERIAL IN SHOT 16
A letter written by Princess Diana, a portrait of John Lennon as well as casino plaques from the first James Bond film "Dr. No" are among items being offered by British auctioneer Ewbank's in a memorabilia sale next month.
Among the highlights of the May 30 "Entertainment & Memorabilia Premier Live Auction" is a letter Diana wrote in January 1996 - a month before confirming she was divorcing Britain's then Prince Charles - thanking her friend Roger Bramble for taking her to lunch at London restaurant Bibendum, and adding "I like to hear your wise council & appreciate the pointers too".
The letter, written on Kensington Palace headed paper, has a price estimate of 800 - 1,200 pounds.
A portrait of Lennon, attributed to original Beatles bass guitarist and artist Stuart Sutcliffe, has a price tag of 3,000 - 5,000 pounds.
“We verified this as having been hanging in John Lennon's Kenwood home in the sunroom, which is just up the road from us here in Surrey," Andrew Ewbank, partner at Ewbank's, told Reuters.
It was gifted in 1968 to the vendor's father, who worked for Cave Photographics Studios - which provided photographic equipment to the Beatles - when Lennon and his then partner Yoko Ono were redecorating the house, Ewbank said.
“They were taking everything out of the house and having a real change. John... was in the process of disposing of this portrait... there are tears and rips in it... The vendor's father came in saying 'Please don't do that. Can I have it?' and it was gifted to him and it stayed with him all these years.”
Other lots include a letter written by the "Dambusters" 617 squadron member Edward Johnston on the back of a letter he received (300 - 500 pounds), artwork for horror movies "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" (2,000 - 4,000 pounds) and "Frankenstein Created Woman" (3,000 - 5,000 pounds), as well as Le Cercle Casino plaques from "Dr. No" (1,400 - 1,800 pounds).
“There's obviously a lot of interest in the franchise at the moment while we await for the announcement of who the new James Bond may be," Ewbank said.
"...Be it posters, props from films, the interest is really so high in anything James Bond now.”
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