Description:

JOHN LENNON - SIGNED SELF-PORTRAIT "HEIL JOHN" WHILE OFFERING A NAZI SALUTE
JOHN LENNON (1940 - 1980) English singer and songwriter, the inspirational genius behind the success of The Beatles. Murdered outside his New York apartment. Shocking self-portrait in black ink on a 8 1/4" x 11 3/4" sheet of sketch book paper, a profile view of a smiling, long-haired, bespectacled Lennon standing at a podium, displaying a straight-armed Nazi salute. He executes his first name "John" three times as part of the chant raised by the adoring but unseen crowd below: "Heil John, Heil John, Heil John, Heil". The sketch shows two file holes with reinforcements at the left margin, each showing small rust stains, and with folds and a half-inch horizontal tear at the left edge, else very good. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by FRANK CAIAZZO, the owner of "The Beatles Autographs" and the world's leading expert on Beatles autographs for over thirty years. Caiazzo is known and respected by every major auction house and Beatles collector. His website may be viewed at: http://www.beatlesautographs.com. The sketch was acquired privately from CYNTHIA LENNON (1939-2015) , John's first wife, in August of 1991. Present with the sketch is a typed statement from that purchaser, 5pp. 4to., explaining that he met Cynthia Lennon by chance while viewing items belonging to her and John then being auctioned by Christie's in London. Cynthia asked the purchaser, an appraiser of Third Reich materials, to provide her a value with several items belonging to John Lennon which reflected his fascination with Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler in particular, and which Christie's had refused to offer. These included the sketch presented here, as well as three additional sketches with similar themes reflecting John's Third Reich interests, two Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medals with Oak Clusters, and a postwar Austrian commemorative medal celebrating the life of Adolf Hitler, which Cynthia stated was worn "continuously" by John. After providing values to Cynthia, the writer was allowed to purchase all of these items, on the condition that they were not to be sold until after Cynthia's death. Present with the sketch is the catalog for Christie's August 28-29, 1991 sale, signed on the front cover in blue ink by Cynthia Lennon, adding the inscription "Love". The statement of provenance relates that Cynthia signed this catalog for the original purchaser during their first meeting in Christie's showroom. The drawing presented here is believed to have been executed by Lennon while enrolled at the Liverpool College of Art, dating it 1956-1958. It shows stylistic similarity to a hand-made Christmas card drawn for Cynthia Lennon by John, which was sold in the 1991 Christie's sale. It is typical of his early work, which later evolved into his "comic line" style, best exemplified by his books "In His Own Write", "A Spaniard in the Works" and "Skywriting by Word of Mouth". Lennon is known to have had a life-long obsession with Adolf Hitler, best exemplified by his insistence that Hitler appear on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, although the dictator was removed from the image at the last minute.

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August 1, 2018 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000