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A pair of tinted prescription glasses owned and worn by John Lennon from 1973 to early 1974: the period he called his "Lost Weekend", referring to an 18-month separation from Yoko Ono when he was in a relationship with his personal assistant, May Pang.
Lennon is fondly remembered as a pioneering musician and a strong advocate for peace, and during his career one accessory became his trademark: his circular glasses. Lennon first sported round spectacles (known as Windsor glasses) as part of his costume for the role of Musketeer Gripweed in Richard Lester's 1967 movie How I Won the War, and would wear the distinctive frames for the rest of his life. Glasses are one of the most coveted Lennon-associated items by both fans and music memorabilia collectors.
With exceptional provenance, these glasses represent a rare opportunity to acquire a quintessential piece of personal Lennon memorabilia. They were originally sold as part of Sotheby's Collector's Carousel auction in June 1987, and then in Christie's Popular Culture: Rock & Pop Memorabilia Auction in July 2008.
Lennon wore this very pair on 12 March 1974, when he and fellow musician Harry Nilsson, both heavily drunk, heckled comedy duo the Smothers Brothers while they performed at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles. The constant heckling resulted in a fight, and security escorted Lennon and Nilsson out of the venue. The original Sotheby's catalogue listing states that, during this incident, Lennon lost his glasses and Tommy Smothers' wife grabbed them. Photographs taken at the end of the night show Lennon outside the venue without his glasses, indeed confirming that he had lost them that evening.
Tommy Smothers detailed the event in the book Ticket to Ride by Denny Somach: "The heckling got so bad that our show was going downhill rapidly. No one cared because it was just happening anyway, but there was a scuffle going on and we stopped the show. My wife ended up with Lennon's glasses because of the punches that were thrown".
Pang also details the incident in her and Henry Edwards' book Loving John: The Untold Story: "I learned that after his show Tommy Smothers had gone to Peter Lawford's house and had walked into Lawford's living room wearing John's glasses, which Tommy's wife had grabbed during the melee. Despite the uproar caused by John, Lawford's guests were fascinated. They had spent the rest of the evening trying on John's glasses to get the feel of what it was like to be John Lennon".
As stated in the original Christie's auction catalogue, Lennon wore these glasses on several occasions between 1973 and 1974. They are seen on the cover of Lennon's 1973 single Mind Games (believed to be a Polaroid taken by himself); in photographs taken by Tom Zimberoff on 15 November 1973 for an issue of Crawdaddy magazine; and in shots of Lennon in his Bel Air home taken by Pang, which also feature in Loving John: The Untold Story.
The glasses feature round, tinted, thick prescription lenses with gilt metal frames bearing the brand "American Optical". There are some minor marks on the lenses, and one of the arms has bent out of shape over time. They come with a custom-made acrylic display, which features an image of Lennon sticking his tongue out. Included in the lot are copies of the original catalogues from the Sotheby's and Christie's auction sales. Dimensions (glasses opened): 13 cm x 13 cm x 4.5 cm (5.25" x 5.25" x 1.75"); (display); 25 cm x 34.5 cm x 30.75 cm (9.75" x 13.5" x 12")
Additional Provenance:
Lot 431, Sotheby's New York Collectors Carrousel Auction, 27 June 1987
Lot 257, Christie's Popular Culture: Rock & Pop Memorabilia Auction, 10 July 2008
Estimate: £150,000 - 300,000 M
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