The instrument - which is said to have been played by the musician during the band's heyday - went under the hammer at New York's Julien's Auctions fetching nearly half a million dollars, reports the New York Daily News.

George - who passed away from lung cancer aged 58 in 2001 - is believed to have borrowed the Mastersound electric guitar from a music store and played it on stage in England and the Channel Islands during the summer of 1963.

It was sold on Friday (15.05.15) to an anonymous bidder having previously been on display at the Beatles Story museum in Liverpool.

Other items offered during the two-day rock memorabilia sale included a penguin suit sported by Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in 1975 which went for $122,000, Jimi Hendrix's vest which was sold for $59,000 and a t-shirt once worn by Madonna which went for $25,000.

Elvis' marriage certificate from his wedding to Priscilla Presley also went under the hammer and fetched $40,000.