
From the Daily Mail.
A battered green guitar worth just £75 (equivalent to £500 today) in 1968 has been sold at auction for a massive £118,813.
Francis Rossi bought the Fender Telecaster second-hand in Glasgow 51 years ago and used it right up until its retirement in 2015.
The Status Quo star, 70, revealed he was ‘amazed’ by the ‘chequered history’ he had with his instrument, ahead of its sale at Bonhams Knightsbridge on Tuesday.

He said: ‘The green Tele served me extremely well for almost 50 years and I’m always amazed when I look back and realise what a chequered history we had together
The guitar – which was first used on the single Down The Dustpipe in 1970 and played on virtually all the band’s tracks for the next 45 years – was the headline lot at the auction’s Entertainment Memorabilia Sale.
Jon Baddeley, managing director of Bonhams Knightsbridge, said: ‘It has been a great pleasure to have this iconic guitar in the spotlight at today’s auction.

‘The Bonhams saleroom is a very different stage to arenas or stadiums and we are delighted this legendary piece of British rock memorabilia hit such a high note today.’
The sale, which also featured the red and white trousers worn by Queen star Freddie Mercury on the band’s 1986 tour, comes after Francis revealed he couldn’t think of retiring while he had children living at home
In 2015 Francis admitted he was wealthy by most standards, but said he still had to finance a big family, with those still sharing his Surrey mansion aged from 23 to 45.

‘We are well-off. We are rich people,’ he said. ‘But I have got eight children who have all been university-educated. Five of them at the moment live at home. I like all that. I love the whole family, but it needs funding.’
Rossi, who is worth an estimated £10 million, has a total of eight children from three mothers.
He and his second wife Eileen were sharing their eight-bedroom property with their then 19-year-old university student Fursey; 25-year-old Fynn, who worked in finance; 21-year-old Kiera, a veterinary nurse; 26-year-old Patrick, a chef; and Nicholas, 43, who runs a decorating business and was between homes.
Rossi met his first wife, Jean, at Butlin’s in Minehead when he was 15 and she was 18. The couple married in 1967 and had three children – Simon, Nicholas, and Kieran – before their divorce.
He then had a three-year relationship with rock publicist Liz Gernon, who gave birth to their daughter Bernadette in 1984. He has been married to Irish-American Eileen since 1992.
Rossi admitted he and his bandmates would also be reluctant to give up the lifestyle they had become accustomed to since rising to fame with their first hit, Pictures Of Matchstick Men, in 1967.

He said: ‘I know we have entered the establishment and I don’t want to take a step backwards. I don’t want to come out of the lifestyle I am used to.
‘It’s very strange that the punter tends to think you have got £2 million in the corner of the bedroom in notes. You’ve had umpteen divorces, you drank like a fish, you live in a fabulous multi-million-pound house, you have got three or four or five cars…
‘They never figure that we do the same things as they do. I have got to think of where next week’s money is coming from, because it all needs maintaining. That is why we keep going.’
At the auction a self-portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from 1969, which the former Beatle added to autographs or when signing letters, sold for £20,063.
A guitar commissioned by fellow Beatle George Harrison as a gift for his former manager Denis O’Brien, a Zemaitis 12-string acoustic guitar, fetched £18,813.
And a signed, hand-made shirt worn by Robert Smith of The Cure during the band’s 1989 Prayer Tour sold for more than five times its pre-sale estimate, going for £6,313.
Smith offered the shirt for sale and is donating the proceeds to the Oxfam charity’s Green Christmas appeal.
Explore eil.com & 991.com sister – the world’s best online store for rare, collectable & out of print Vinyl Records, CDs & Music memorabilia since 1987.
EIL.COM Favourite Music Update Rare CDs, CD Singles, Rare Records, Vinyl Records, Albums and Music
- Status Quo - Ain't Complaining - Stickered - UK - vinyl LP - £15.00, $20.40, €16.80 (New Item) (arrived 16-Apr-2021 13:24)on April 19, 2021 at 1:56 pm
STATUS QUO Ain't Complaining (1988 UK 12-track vinyl LP, song hype stickered picture sleeve with blue credits inner. The cover shows minor wear & the vinyl reveals few signs of play VERH58)
- Status Quo - On The Level + Inner - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £10.00, $13.60, €11.20 (New Item) (arrived 23-Mar-2021 12:26)on April 19, 2021 at 1:56 pm
STATUS QUO On The Level (1975 UK 10-track vinyl LP, including the classic hit single Down Down. The textured gatefold picture sleeve has some shelfwear evident to the edges but comes complete with the lyric inner and the vinyl remains in excellent condition)
- Status Quo - 1982 Official Tour Programme XX - UK - tour programme - £9.75, $13.26, €10.92 (New Item) (arrived 04-Mar-2021 10:06)on April 19, 2021 at 1:56 pm
STATUS QUO 1982 Official Tour Programme XX (1982 UK thirty two page 9.5" x 12" tour programme packed with photographs & information about the band and their first twenty years, official merchandise and more. This copy remains pristine)
- Status Quo - Dog Of Two Head - 1st - Translucent Vinyl - UK - vinyl LP - £40.00, $54.40, €44.80 (New Item) (arrived 04-Mar-2021 10:40)on April 19, 2021 at 1:56 pm
STATUS QUO Dog Of Two Head (1971 UK 10-track LP on the powder blue label pressed on pressed on Translucent Vinyl, visible when held to the light. The fourth album from The Quo which spawned one UK Top Twenty hit, Mean Girl [although that didn't happen until 1973], gatefold picture sleeve. The sleeve shows general wear with a small tear to the opening edge, whilst the vinyl has just a few purely cosmetic marks and little real sign of play leavingit Excellent NSPL18371)
- Status Quo - Dog Of Two Head - UK - vinyl LP - £15.00, $20.40, €16.80 (New Item) (arrived 04-Mar-2021 11:03)on April 19, 2021 at 1:56 pm
STATUS QUO Dog Of Two Head (1987 UK issue of the 1971 10-track LP on the green & orange PRT label, the fourth album from The Quo which spawned one UK Top 20 hit, Mean Girl [although that didn't happen until 1973]. The gatefold picture sleevedisplays only light wear and the vinyl shows only light signs of play NSPL18371)
Be the first to comment