A letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton is being sold at auction next month.
The handwritten, signed letter is just one of several items that will be sold at the Profiles in History auction in Los Angeles on December 18.
In the letter, which is dated September 29, 1971, the late Beatle proposed that he and Clapton form a band together. Lennon wrote:
“Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music. I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together.”
Lennon also expressed his admiration for Clapton in the letter and offered him an all expenses paid flight to New York.
Auctioneer Joe Maddalena said it was widely known that there were problems in the Beatles’ relationships with each other. Clapton came very close to becoming a member of the band.
Clapton played in Lennon and Yoko Ono ‘s band, the Plastic Ono Band, one year before the Beatles broke up in 1970. He also played on George Harrison’s song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” off of the Beatles’ White album.
Maddalena said, “There was a point in time when George Harrison thought about leaving the band and his replacement was Clapton, so this letter is a link of what could have been.”
There are 300 letters and manuscripts up for auction next month. Among the items are a handwritten letter from George Washington ($300,000) and a Charles Dickens manuscript with an obituary of novelist William Thackeray ($40,000 to $60,000). There is also a handwritten letter from Beethoven to a friend of his publisher named Tobias Haslinger in which he discusses the second performance of the Missa Solemnis and his Ninth Symphony.
The Lennon letter to Clapton is expected to sell for up to $30,000.
Would you buy John Lennon’s letter to Eric Clapton for $30,000?