Imagine: John Lennon’s Glasses Sell For $52,000 At A Charity Auction

On December 29, 2024, a pair of glasses that had belonged to John Lennon sold for $52,000 at a charity auction. The Gala One event, an exclusive charity evening that supported three charities (Amend, OneDrop and Well/Beings), took place in Eden Rock, Saint Barths. It was a star-studded affair, with guests including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mike Tyson, and Wyclef Jean.

John Lennon wore many glasses, but the ones he became so well-known for, the golden round pair, were a model designed by Oliver Goldsmith, now a third-generation business which celebrates its centenary next year.

Speaking to Oliver Goldsmith over Zoom, whose grandfather founded the company, he told me that John Lennon’s glasses were an Oliver Goldsmith model but that they didn’t supply the frames to him directly. He thinks that he probably bought them at a local optician in Liverpool. Oliver tells me that the company were unaware that John Lennon’s glasses were their original design until they read a story in a newspaper about a pair of Lennon’s glasses being sold at auction, which reported that the specs were branded Oliver Goldsmith. The report also showed that the glasses were missing a screw. It is thought that John Lennon disposed of them when this happened, but his chauffeur kept them, which is how they ended up at the auction.

Read the whole article by Laia Farran Graves here.