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The Holy Grail of pop memorabila

will it ever be found?

by Rob Fennah
It is always difficult finding something new to say about the Fab Four; after all,
hasn’t everything already been written? Well no, not quite...

It’s common knowledge the first instrument John Lennon ever learned to play was
his mother’s banjo. John gave many a heart-warming account of how his mother,
Julia, spent hours teaching him to play Buddy Holly’s classic, That’ll Be The Day,
“sitting there with endless patience until I had worked out all the chords.” It was
Julia who turned John onto rock ‘n’ roll and actively encouraged him to pursue his
musical ambitions much to the disapproval of his Aunt Mimi with whom he lived.

Julia Baird, John’s half-sister, who witnessed their mother teaching him said: “I can
see John so clearly, concentrating intently on the mother of pearl backed banjo that
belonged to his grandfather, who had brought it back from a sea trip and then left it to
our mother.” It’s fair to say, therefore, that without Julia Lennon’s banjo there wouldn’t
have been a Beatles and, without them, everything we know today would be different.

So where is the Holy Grail of pop memorabilia? Well that’s what this is all about;
shortly after Julia Lennon died in 1958 the banjo went missing and no one has set
eyes on it since. Remarkably, neither John’s family, nor any of the numerous Beatles
experts, have been able to shed light on its whereabouts or what may have become
of it. John never revealed what happened to the priceless relic and it remains the
greatest mystery in pop music. However, one thing is certain; if it did resurface,
the lucky finder would no longer have to worry about working for a living. In
2000, a Lennon piano went under the hammer at Sotheby’s for 1.5 million pounds
which gives some indication as to what the banjo might be worth. Some argue it
would fetch millions more, not just because it was the first instrument the great-
est rock ‘n’ roll legend learned to play; it was the catalyst that changed the world!

But before we all start searching our attics and cellars, we must first overcome a
major problem. Other than being banjo-shaped, what does the illusive instrument
actually look like? Does it have any distinguishing marks or features; something
to confirm its provenance? There are no photographs of John playing the banjo
so how could it be authenticated? Julia Baird’s description does provide us with
a couple of important clues; the banjo originated from overseas, circa 1930s, and
it had a mother of pearl back. Research suggests this decorative feature only ap-
peared on expensive banjos and helps rule out the notion that it might have been
scrapped (beautiful old instruments are seldom destroyed and are kept for their
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