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The top selling item at Julien’s Auctions All Beatles sale in Hollywood on April 10 was Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to “Hey Jude”. These sold for an astounding $910,000 over an original estimate of $160,000-$180,000. A vintage Ludwig brand bass drumhead bearing The Beatles logo used at the Cow Palace Arena in San Francisco on August 19, 1964 made $200,000, four times over its original estimate of $50,000. Originally scheduled for the Hard Rock Cafe in New York the sale moved entirely online for a global audience of registered bidders. The spectacular results demonstrate that an online platform in times of lockdown works.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 9, 2020)

The original stage from the first Beatles performance at Lathom Hall in Liverpool on May 14, 1960 for one night only as The Silver Beats (their original band name) comes up at Julien’s live online auction in Hollywood on April 10. The auction will take place on the 50th anniversary of the bands break up. The group, whose name became The Silver Beetles and then finally as The Beatles, would play at Lathom Hall on ten more occasions. The final performance there was on February 25, 1961, George Harrison’s 18th Birthday. Nearly 250 Beatles items featuring some never-before-seen memorabilia, guitars and instruments, autographed items, rare vinyl and collectibles will come under the hammer. Other highlights include Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics for “Hey Jude”, a Spalding baseball signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr from The Beatles final U.S. concert in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “BAGISM” drawing, featured in the couple’s 1969 Bed in Peace documentary as part of their demonstration against the Vietnam War, a pair of vintage camel beige wide-cut corduroy trousers worn by John Lennon on the Magical Mystery Tour in the 1960s and a pen on paper caricature drawing of a three legged pirate created by John Lennon for his 1963 book, In His Own Write.

UPDATE: Hey Jude Lyrics sold for $910,000: BAGISM drawing made $93,750.

The rarest Beatles record in the world features at Julien’s Auctions music icons sale in Liverpool on May 9. John Lennon’s signed album “Yesterday And Today” (1966), a U.S. First State Butcher prototype stereo example will highlight the auction. Displayed on the wall of his Dakota apartment in New York until he had an assistant take it down and deliver it to the Record Plant where he signed it in blue ink: “To Dave from/ John Lennon/ Dec 7th 71.” it is considered the rarest Beatles record in the world.
The recipient was Dave Morrell, a Beatles fan and bootleg collector. “The Butcher” was given in essentially a trade for a reel-to-reel tape of Morrell’s Yellow Matter Custard bootleg that Lennon desired. Lennon filled the blank back of the cover with a drawing depicting a man holding a shovel with his dog in front of a setting sun. The cover also includes autographs by Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, which Morrell obtained later. This is believed to be the only First State Butcher album bearing three Beatles signatures and is estimated at $160,000-$180,000.

The venue for the live and online sale is The Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool. Other top lots include a Beatles signed baseball from their final US concert and John Lennon’s signed guitar strap.

Julien’s Auctions will partner once again with The Beatles Story to bring their Beatles and Merseybeat “Memorabilia Day” back home to Liverpool on Friday, May 10 for a Beatlemania event. Fans and collectors are invited to bring in their Beatles memorabilia to have appraised by the experts for free at The Beatles Story’s Fab4 Cafe on the Royal Albert Dock.