THE BEATLES














The Beatles: The original Hindu Goddess Lakshmi doll from the iconic album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,


1967,with four padded arms, two holding flowers (one remnant), painted facial features, hair with gold card decoration and beaded hairpiece to back, red, white and black beads to earrings, necklace, belt and bracelets, gold-coloured card bangles and belt, sari printed in black, on circular wooden base with fabric pink/red flower petals, accompanied by a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of the LP, doll 14 1/4in (36.32cm) high, (2)
|Provenance:The vendor's son's best friend, Steve Ridder, a bass guitarist from California, moved to England and joined a band called The Corn Dollies in the late 1980s. Steve subsequently met Jann Howarth's daughter and she gave him the doll. After returning to the US, Steve gave the doll to the vendor's son as a wedding gift. During a visit to his son some years later, the vendor noticed that the condition of the doll had deteriorated somewhat and his son agreed to part with it. The cover was created by Jann Haworth and her then-husband Peter Blake, and their work won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts. The doll can be quite clearly seen in position on the album cover, bottom centre, under the 'T' of 'Beatles'. It's possible it was a suggestion by George Harrison, although Peter Blake is quoted as saying that George only gave him a list of Indian gurus and four were indeed included in the cut-outs gathered behind the Beatles.