You won't believe how much John Lennon's guitar sold for

Former Beatle John Lennon's guitar sold for a record price at an auction in Los Angeles. Photo / Getty

A guitar used by John Lennon to write Beatles hits such as She Loves You and All My Loving has sold for a record NZD $3.6 million in the US.

The 1962 J-160E Gibson Acoustic guitar was purchased by the famous Beatle in Liverpool, September 1962, Julien's Auctions said.

"John so loved this particular guitar that he would take it home and wrote songs on it with Paul McCartney," the auction house wrote.

"Julien's Auctions said the guitar went missing during the Beatles' December 1963 Finsbury Park Christmas show in London and was lost for more than 50 years.

The auction house, which said the sale shattered all records for rock memorabilia, did not provide any details on how or where it resurfaced.

Another item that went under the hammer on Saturday was the Ed Sullivan drum head, billed as the most famous of the seven known Beatles drop-T logo drum heads and the only one to be featured on a Beatles album jacket.It sold for NZD $3.2 million.

Other items included Elvis Presley's 24-carat Gold Leaf Piano that was snapped up for NZD $919,000.

Elvis bought the piano for his mother in 1955 and it was later kept in the music room at the singer's famous Graceland home.

On their first wedding anniversary, Elvis's former wife Priscilla had the piano adorned with 24-carat gold finish, according to Julien's.

Separately, a white deerskin leather ensemble once donned by the King went for NZD $85,000.

Other pieces that found buyers included a cardigan worn by late Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, which went for NZD $209,000.

- AAP