Entertainment

Imagine Lennon's Piano

February 18, 2000 / 9:34 AM EST / AP

The piano on which John Lennon composed "Imagine" is to be auctioned on the Internet in July, online company eOffer.com said.

The 30-year-old upright Steinway was expected to fetch $1.6 million and could become the most expensive item of pop memorabilia ever sold, the company said.

The wood-finished piano was unveiled to the public Thursday at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool. It is to be sold on a new Internet site that is being set up by Fleetwood Mac musician Mick Fleetwood and auctioneer Ted Owen.

"The owner is a private collector and a great Lennon fan and he's had it now for nearly 10 years," said Owen. "He feels, like we do, that it needs to be in a museum and that's why it's being shown at the Beatles museum until Oct. 9, which would have been Lennon's 60th birthday."

"Imagine," originally recorded in 1971, became a number one hit when it was re-released shortly after Lennon's death. The former Beatle died outside his New York home, the Dakota building, 20 years ago at the hands of obsessed fan Mark Chapman.

The piano was built in Hamburg in 1970 and bought by Lennon later that year. Video footage has been recorded of Lennon playing "Imagine" on the piano for the first time to Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band in 1971.