Uri Geller has said he is “elated” after buying a pair of John Lennon’s iconic sunglasses at action for £40,000.
The news of the auction emerged in recent weeks, with the glasses as well as a number of other Fab Four memorabilia items going under the hammer at Farleigh Golf Club in Surrey yesterday (July 31).
In the end, the blue-tinted spectacles were picked up by the television personality, international spoon-bender and self-proclaimed illusionist Geller, 77, for a tidy sum.
Speaking to the BBC, Geller said he was “elated” with his purchase and that his plan is to display them in his own museum in his hometown of Tel Aviv, Israel.
“John Lennon and I were very good friends while we were living in New York in the 1970s,” claimed Geller, who also owns a lock of the Beatle’s hair and a sketch that he once made of a UFO (via Sky News).
“I knew I had to buy these glasses whatever. I would have gone up to £500,000,” Geller continued. “Glasses are a passage into our soul, into our psyche.”
Expanding on his relationship with the ‘Imagine’ singer, Geller said they were “really close” with ”an amazing connection”.
The auctioned sunglasses were given by Lennon to a man from Surrey, named by Catherine Southon Auctions only as Michael, in 1968 as a birthday present.
“The young man saw the spectacles lying on the piano and went to pick them up but was told by his then girlfriend to leave them, to which Lennon replied, ‘It’s OK, he can have them’,” the auction house said. They were only initially expected to reach roughly £3,000 at the auction.
A collection of 33 black and white photos taken at Abbey Road were also auctioned for an estimated £200 to £300. The photographs include shots of Lennon and his bandmates Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as well as producer George Martin, snapped on the day of the photoshoot for The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ album cover.