A COLLECTION of 26 negatives containing rare never before seen photographs of John Lennon have been uncovered.
The images of the former Beatle from February 1970 will now be auctioned next year, where they are expected to fetch up to £10,000.
The negatives, a series of intimate portraits, were bought to a Memorabilia Day at Liverpool exhibition The Beatles Story.
People were offered free valuations from celebrity memorabilia experts Julien’s Auctions.
The owner of the negatives, who wants to stay anonymous, said the collection had been stored away in the family’s junk draw for around 34 years.
They had presumed they had no value but Darren Julien, President of Julien’s Auctions, estimates the collection could sell for over £10,000 at auction.
“It’s not often when you find images of John Lennon that have never before been seen by the public. These 26 images/negatives of John Lennon are a rare find,” he said.
John Lennon had always been desperate to find out more about his family roots and hired genealogists during the height of his fame.
Unfortunately they were hopeless and as a result Lennon knew very little about his Irish heritage.
Lennon also didn’t know it but a press shot of The Beatles from 1962 in front of a tea warehouse on Liverpool’s dock road was the exact spot where his ancestors first arrived in Liverpool during the Great Famine.
Other items were discovered on the Memorabilia Day include a Beatles Christmas Show programme from 1963 signed by all four Beatles and a signed postcard, valued at £5,000.
Last year a letter written by John Lennon and addressed to The Queen, explaining the singer’s reasons for returning his MBE, was valued by Julien’s at around £60,000.
These and around 100 other Beatles and music-realated items will now be auctioned at The Beatles Story in October 2018.
The collection of negatives will go onto temporary display within The Beatles Story’s main exhibition from November 9, 2017.
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