George Harrison's early Beatles guitar could fetch $800,000 at auction

LIVERPOOL, October 3 (Reuters) - An electric guitar played by the late guitarist George Harrison in the early days of the Beatles will go up for sale at an auction next month where it could be sold for more than $800,000.

Bought from a music store in the band's birth city of Liverpool, Harrison played the Futurama guitar in the early 1960s when the band performed at the Cavern Club, toured Germany, and made their first official records for Polydor.

The auctioneers say the Futurama guitar, with its sunburst finish, was one of his most played. They call it "one of the holy grails of historic Beatles guitars" and said it is expected to exceed its estimated price tag of $600,000-$800,000.

Harrison said the guitar was "very difficult" to play but he liked what he called its "futuristic" look. "It had a great sound," he later told a journalist.

In 1964, he donated the instrument to a rock magazine as a competition prize, but it remained with the publication's editor when the winner opted for a cash prize instead of owning a piece of rock and roll history.

The guitar will be on display at The Beatles Story in Liverpool for the next fortnight before being shown at other museums across Europe. It is due to be auctioned from November 20-22 in the United States.