TOWSON, Md. — A piano that once belonged to John Lennon and Yoko Ono and was later donated to iconic artist Andy Warhol is going up for auction in Towson.
The late Beatles member purchased the 1929 Grand Model D Piano from the Baldwin Factory in New York during the late 70s.
According to Alex Cooper Auctioneers, Lennon used the piano to compose his 1980 "Double Fantasy" album.
He and Ono then gifted the piano to Sam Green, who Lennon named custodian for his son in his will.
The piano includes an original custom brass plaque from Lennon and Ono, with the inscription: “For Sam/Love From Yoko and John/1979.”
Upon Lennon's death, Green is said to have loaned the piano to Warhol, who displayed it at his studios on Madison Avenue in New York City.
Then in 1987 Green loaned the piano to the New York Academy of Art, who allegedly sold it without consent, prompting a scandal known as the “Lost Lennon Piano.”
In 2018, the piano ended up being donated to Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, at which poit Alex Cooper Auctioneers began looking into its provenance and value.
The live auction of the “Lost Lennon Piano” takes place September 30 at 10 a.m. at 908 York Road. Online bidding started September 15 at $300,000.
Proceeds from the piano sale will benefit Mercersburg Academy.
