It has toured all over the country after being incorporated into a necklace to raise awareness of oral cancer, and now John Lennon’s extracted molar has returned to his home city of Liverpool, just in time for Beatles Mania Week and the band’s 50th anniversary. The necklace, estimated to be worth around £25,000, will be displayed at the Brunswick Street Surgery, offering patients the chance to wear it and have their picture taken as they learn more about the symptoms of oral cancer.
The tooth was originally sold at auction a year ago to dentist Michael Zuk for £19,000 after Lennon’s former house keeper, Dot Jarlett, held onto it for nearly fifty years. The Beatle is thought to have passed it on to her sometime between 1964 and 1968, after having it removed due to decay, and Ms Jarlett stored it to give to her daughter, suggesting that it might be worth something one day.
Fragments of the tooth were then transferred to a necklace and it has been displayed at some of the UK’s top dental practices, in order to highlight National Mouth Cancer Month. Owners of the Liverpool clinic that currently holds the jewellery, husband and wife team Marius and Debbie McGovern said that they were ‘proud to be the only Liverpool dentist involved in this important campaign.’