Chris Walter/WireImageA letter that John Lennon wrote to Eric Clapton suggesting that the two rock legends join forces in a band will be auctioned next month in Los Angeles.  The handwritten correspondence, which the late Beatles star penned in September 1971, will go on the block on December 18 as part of a sale hosted by the Profiles in History auction house.  It's expected to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000.

The note reads, "Both of us have been thru the same kind of s**t/pain that I know you've had -- and I know we could help each other in that area -- but mainly Eric -- I know I can bring out something great -- in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music, I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us -- which I know will happen if/when we get together."

At the time of Lennon's letter, he and Clapton already had collaborated a number of ***** over the years.  The guitar great joined John and his wife, Yoko Ono, at the September 1969 concert documented on the Live Peace in Toronto album, and Clapton and Lennon also played together as part of an impromptu supergroup called The Dirty Mac that appeared in The Rolling Stones' 1968 Rock and Roll Circus TV special.

The Profiles in History auction also will feature handwritten letters from several other historic music luminaries, including Ludwig van Beethoven, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Louis Armstrong.

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