Online bidding for a pair of John Lennon’s glasses has reached ₤750,000. Sales director John Warner says, “The interest has been phenomenal. Our phones have been in meltdown. It’s almost impossible to put a value on them. They’re the rarest of the rare.”

BBC reports that Lennon wore the glasses when the Beatles played in Japan in 1966. Lennon became friends with their Japanese translator, and when Lennon left “they exchanged gifts in the Japanese tradition.” The translator presented a set of traditional Japanese copper cups, while Lennon presented a pair of his sunglasses.

It sounds to me like the Japanese translator gave John Lennon a thoughtful gift, while Lennon rooted around in his pocket and found some sunglasses. I’m not so sure this kind of exchange is “in the Japanese tradition”. Unless the Japanese tradition is to get completely ripped on acid and trade things you find in your pockets.

Not a bad tradition, really, but it’s more like a Venice Beach tradition, or a Camden tradition, or a Haight-Ashbury tradition. It’s a deep, humanitarian tradition of staying in bed all day, writing songs about rainbows and walruses, smoking a bowl of lint you found in your pocket, then exhaling a million dollars and having your glasses elected President of the U.S.A.

Share It!