A bullet from the gun that killed John Lennon will no longer be auctioned by a British auction house.

Days after BBC News reported on Saturday that a bullet fired from the gun that shot the Beatles member would be auctioned by Anderson & Garland on Thursday, the auction house surprisingly withdrew the item.

The lot posted on the auctioneer's website now indicates that it has been withdrawn.

Per Fox News, it was not disclosed why the Newcastle-based auction house withdrew the lot from the scheduled auction. Typical reasons why an item is withdrawn from an auction include questions about its authenticity or a lack of interest before the auction.

Initially, Fred Wyrley-Birch, Anderson & Garland's director, told the BBC that the bullet fired from the gun that shot John Lennon "is one of those slightly macabre lots you get now and again that draws everyone's attention."

He added that "there is a Beatles fanbase that is fanatical and a market for just about anything Beatles" and that the bullet was "a really interesting piece of Beatles memorabilia that probably can't be replicated."

However, Beatles fans thought otherwise, per a recent discussion on a Beatles subreddit thread.

"A true Beatles fan couldn't possess such a thing. The music is the legacy, not some macabre connection to the very weapon that robbed John's family, friends and fans of the life he would have continued to live," said one Reddit user.

Another opined, "Wait, so the cop had something scary happen to him while on duty, and the NYPD's apology for that was letting him shoot the gun that killed John Lennon? Everybody in this situation sucks, and I cannot imagine a lamer thing to buy at [an] auction. Glad it was pulled [out]."

"How the f*** could this be a sellable thing?" commented another person.

"...what a nightmarish relic," stated someone else.

The "macabre" bullet was given to Superintendent Brian Taylor during his visit to the New York City Police in September 1984. It was given as a way of apology for being the only unarmed officer in a shooting in New York while he was on patrol with the NYPD.

Considering that he was British and a huge Beatles fan, he was brought to a small museum in the NYPD's Forensic Investigation Division, where he was allowed to fire the gun Mark David Chapman used to murder Lennon in December 1980.

While Taylor was still alive, he had the retrieved cartridge and bullet "mounted and hung on the wall of his office for the remainder of his career."

"His family has now decided it is time for another true John Lennon fan to own this historic item," the British auction house wrote in the lot description.

Tags: john lennon beatles