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Of George Harrison‘s memorabilia, there is a rather peculiar collector’s item worth thousands of dollars. It is the legendary crust of a piece of toast that the iconic artist would have for breakfast in 1962, which has been carefully preserved for decades in a scrapbook along with cigar remnants and lint from John Lennon’s guitar case.
Legend has it that in 1962, Sue Houghton, a 15-year-old fan, would befriend the Harrison family and, during a visit, would sneak a piece of toast from George’s plate. Pasting it in her scrapbook, she wrote: ‘Piece of George’s breakfast. 2-8-63’. It was an important date in Beatles history, as the group returned to Liverpool after a seven-week absence to play at the Grafton Rooms on Merseyside.
Now, after 62 years, the work has been rediscovered and sold at auction. It first came to auction in 1992, when Sue’s collection of scrapbooks, including the infamous toast, was auctioned at Christie’s for £1,300 to help fund renovations to her home. Subsequently, the album pages were split up and it has recently come up for auction again.
Its last owner, the dealer Joseph O’Donnell, has declined to reveal how much he paid for it, but has framed it in UV-protected museum glass to preserve it for as long as possible.