Specs go for a song

A pair of John Lennon’s sunglasses has sold on auction site Sotheby’s for £137,500, over 20 times their pre-auction estimate of £6000. Described as ‘the most iconic sunglasses in rock and roll history’, the gold coloured wire-framed rims with round green tinted lenses are synonymous with Lennon’s image.

The frames were sold by Alan Herring, a former chauffeur and personal assistant for Lennon’s Beatles bandmate, Ringo Starr. Herring provided a letter of provenance alongside the iconic Oliver Goldsmith frames which explained: ‘In the summer of 1968 I had picked John [Lennon] up with Ringo [Starr] and George [Harrison] in Ringo’s Mercedes and driven the boys into the office. When John got out of the car I noticed he’d left these sunglasses on the back seat.’