Signed Beatles 45 hits record price

Aug 27 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

A SIGNED copy of the Beatles’ first single was sold for a record price of £13,600 – more than twice its estimate at a Liverpool auction.

The 45rpm vinyl disc of Love Me Do was signed in 1962 by all of the Fab Four when they made a personal appearance at a record store in Widnes.

The original owner – then a teenage girl – gave it to her best friend who has carefully preserved the memento ever since.

It went under the hammer in a public sale held by the Liverpool Mathew Street Beatles Store at Paul McCartney's The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

The shop owner who mounted the sale, Steve Bailey, said: “When the lady brought it in, she was more curious as to whether the signatures were genuine than thinking of selling it.

“She had been given the record in 1962 by a pal because she and her boyfriend were keen on the B-side track, PS... I Love You.

“She asked whether the signatures were real autographs and I could tell straight away that all four were the genuine article.

“She had just kept it with all her other records from that period and had not thought it was particularly valuable.

“When I told her that it could fetch a few thousand pounds she was flabbergasted but agreed to put it up for auction in our sale.”

Auctioneer John Cato said: “We thought it might go for as much as £5,000 and we were all astounded when the bidding went as high as £13,600.

“The buyer is a UK Beatles fan and collector of Beatles memorabilia and he told us he just had to have it.

“This shows what can happen when you have people bidding against each other for a rare item that they simply cannot obtain anywhere else.

“We have checked and this figure exceeds the previous high mark for this autographed record by about double.”

The record, on the Parlophone label, was originally sold for three shillings and nine pence – the equivalent of around 19p. It reached number 17.

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