This collector is Please Pleased with their $14,740 rare Beatles record

Signed not once but twice by each of the Fab Four, this 7" could now be the world's 10th most valuable

It was only their second-ever single.

Yet the seeds of Beatlemania were already sprouting rapidly when the group's second single, Please Please Me, was released in 1963.

The mop tops' skyrocketing popularity lead one enterprising young fan to ask for The Beatles' autographs after seeing her idols perform at the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool as a youngster.

Now, nearly half-a-century later, that same record has sold for £9,000 ($14,744) at a sale held in the Paul McCartney Auditorium at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

Of course, there's no such thing as 'your average' signed Beatles seven inch - yet this example is rarer still, having been double-signed by all four Beatles.

John, Paul, George and Ringo were obviously in a good mood on the day their young fan approached them. Each signed the record twice, once of the record's obverse and once on its reverse.

But it has a way to go before its value is in the same league as the world's most valuable record: Double Fantasy album signed in 1980 by John Lennon for his killer Mark Chapman.

The signed Double Fantasy is last known to have been sold in 1999 for around $150,000, highlighting the morbidity which sometimes drives the collectibles markets.

Meanwhile, the £9,000 sale of Please Please Me in Liverpool demonstrated that rare pieces from The Beatles' heyday, when Beatlemania was at its hottest, are also among the most valued collectible Beatles pieces on the markets.

Records signed by The Beatles or their old friendly rivals The Rolling Stones (pictured above) are among the most coveted on the markets

Other highlights in the auction included a cap owned by John Lennon which sold for £3,200.

And the door of number 38, Kensington - the location of Percy Phillips studio where the Quarry Men, who later became the Beatles, made their first recording on July 14, 1958 - brought £2,300.

Watch this space for more Beatles memorabilia news.

• Click here to view our Memorabilia stock items for sale
• Learn how you can get pleasure & profit from musical collectibles
• Read all the latest Autographs and Memorabilia news

Join our readers in over 200 countries around the world - sign up for your free weekly Collectibles Newsletter today or download our free Collectors News app for your iPhone

Recent and related articles...

·Bruce Lee memorabilia defeats all estimates at Dynasty Auctions sale | 8 August 2011

The auction was led by a $76,850 fur coat from a film Lee never completed and a signed letter

·Sex doesn't always sell... '$480,000 Monroe porn tape' fails to find bidder| 8 August 2011

Said to feature 20-year-old Monroe and a mystery male, questions surrounded the film's authenticity

·'Grotesque connotations': the '$4,000' critique of presidential hopeful Nixon | 7 August 2011

Even before the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon's image had much room for improvement

·Only 'Worm' to win a Good Hands award... Dennis Rodman's memorabilia is for sale | 6 August 2011

Also known as 'Dennis the Menace', Rodman is famous for more than just his renowned basketball skills...

·Bobby Jones's $310,000 'green jacket' triples estimate at golf auction | 5 August 2011

The famed green jackets of the Augusta National are rarely seen outside the club

www.paulfrasercollectibles.com

Image: Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts