LONDON--A toilet belonging to Beatles legend John Lennon sold at auction in Liverpool on Saturday for 9,500 pounds (15,000 dollars, 12,000 euros) -- nearly 10 times its guide price, organizers said.

Lennon used the porcelain lavatory, which is painted with blue flowers and a blue border at the rim and at the base, when he lived at Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, southeast England, from 1969 to 1972.

The loo was removed when the house was being refurbished, and Lennon suggested the builder, John Hancock, take it home and "put some flowers in it".

Instead, the builder carefully stored it in a garden shed, where it remained for 40 years until he died, and his son-in-law put it up for sale.

At the auction at the 33rd annual Beatles Convention in Liverpool, the toilet was expected to fetch about 1,000 pounds.

"It is unbelievable," said auction organizer Stephen Bailey after it sold for almost 10 times that. "We had bids coming in from all over the place but it went to a private overseas buyer."