A guitar belonging to Status Quo star Francis Rossi has been sold at auction for nearly £120,000.

Rossi bought the green Fender Telecaster for £75 in 1968 and used it until he retired in 2015.

It went under the hammer at an auction in London on Tuesday and fetched £118,813.

Francis Rossi
A guitar belonging to Francis Rossi of Status Quo has been sold at auction for nearly £120,000 (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Jon Baddeley, managing director of Bonhams Knightsbridge, said: “It has been a great pleasure to have this iconic guitar in the spotlight at today’s auction.

“The Bonhams saleroom is a very different stage to arenas or stadiums and we are delighted this legendary piece of British rock memorabilia hit such a high note today.”

Speaking before the sale, Rossi said: “The green Tele served me extremely well for almost 50 years and I’m always amazed when I look back and realised what a chequered history we had together.”

The guitar was the headline item at Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia Sale which also included the red and white trousers worn by Queen star Freddie Mercury on the band’s 1986 tour.

They sold for £20,063.

A self-portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from 1969, which the former Beatle added to autographs or when signing letters, also sold for £20,063.

A guitar commissioned by fellow Beatle George Harrison as a gift for his former manager Denis O’Brien, a Zemaitis 12-string acoustic guitar, fetched £18,813.

And a signed, hand-made shirt worn by Robert Smith of The Cure during the band’s 1989 Prayer Tour sold for more than five times its pre-sale estimate, going for £6,313.

Smith offered the shirt for sale and is donating the proceeds to the Oxfam charity’s Green Christmas appeal.