Share this page
Fans can journey back to The Beatles' early days at memorabilia auction
Recording equipment and part of the stage from Liverpool's Cavern Club will be among the sale's lots
Last week, we asked the question 'When it comes to collectibles, is John Lennon bigger than The Beatles?' comparing the Imagine singer's memorabilia auction sales with those of the Fab Four.
Needless to say, collectors are fascinated with all aspects of Lennon's life. For instance, extra-Beatles Lennon memorabilia items currently for sale on the markets include pencil sketches drawn while he was still a student at Liverpool Art School - long before the hits Love Me Do or Please Please Me were even written.
Alternatively, an autograph by the young McCartney is for sale, written from his boyhood home to a friend named Liz while recording The Beatles' debut LP, Please Please Me. "Well, 'Taste of Honey' is on the LP... and quite a few of our own compositions. (cough cough)," he writes.
Lennon memorabilia items like these sketches drawn while at Liverpool
Art College show that collectors remained enthralled with all aspects
of the ex-Beatle’s life (You can find out more here)
Meanwhile, the question of whether Lennon can outsell The Beatles will again be put to the test at Bonhams' Pioneers of Popular Culture sale, which takes place on August 15. The auction will be held at the Goodwood Vintage Festival, celebrating all that is cool and iconic from the period 1940-1990.
We've already reported on the sale's main highlight: a Challen upright piano from London's famous Abbey Road studios, played by The Beatles (as well as Pink Floyd) on a number of their hits, including Tomorrow Never Knows and Paperback Writer.
Valued at an already-impressive £150,000, the piano could sell for significantly more if it captures the imaginations of bidders on the day of the sale.
Could this vintage piano from Abbey Road Studios become another
million-dollar selling piece of Lennon memorabilia? (Our report is here)
In comparison, other recent high profile John Lennon auctions saw his lyrics from the song A Day In The Life bring $1.2m at Sotheby's, in June, and the sale of his Rolls Royce Phantom V car for an amazing $2,230,000 back in 1985 - still the World Record price for a Lennon collectible.
But particularly exciting about Bonhams' sale are the opportunities for collectors to journey back into the Fab Four's earlier days, when they performed at Liverpool's Cavern Club a whopping 292 times from 1961-62.
This fact is confirmed by a commemorative section of the stage from the Cavern Club - often called ''The Birthplace Of The Beatles'' - dated to the 1950s-60s. The 3¾ x 4½ x 1 inches section of the stage will appear in Bonhams' auction estimated at £450-550 (€530-650).
 Salvaged from the depths: from Liverpool's Cavern Club, the recording/ |
Elsewhere, if you don't have a spare £150,000 to spend on a vintage piano, an autographed third mono pressing of The Beatles' 1963 debut LP, Please Please Me - alluded to by Paul McCartney in his letter to Liz - will appear in the sale valued at £5,000-7,000 (€5,900-8,300).
And if that's not enough, collectors and investors will also be able to get their hands on recording and PA equipment from the Cavern Club - specifically a vintage Reslosound microphone and two Ferrograph Model 3A/N reel-to-reel tape recorder, with an original receipt issued by the Cavern.
The recording equipment is estimated at £800-1,200 (€940-1,400) and, along with such items as the signed Please Please Me LP, offer authentic pieces of rock 'n' roll history and also appreciable investments to savvy collectors.
- Learn how you can get pleasure and profit from music memorabilia
- Click here for all the latest Autographs and Memorabilia news
Join our readers in 186 countries around the world - sign up for your free weekly Collectibles Newsletter today
Recent and related articles...
· Jimi Hendrix's Carnaby Street jacket can be yours for $12,500 | 31 July 2010
Here's your chance to invest in the coat worn by one of the greatest - and stylish - rock guitarists...
· When it comes to collectibles, is John Lennon 'bigger than' The Beatles? | 28 July 2010
As Lennon and the Fab Four impress at auction, we compare their potential for investment
· 'Dear Colonel Tom, thanks and I love you like a father,' from Elvis Presley | 27 July 2010
Possibly the most important piece of paper ever signed by the King will auction next month
· Elvis's '$14,000' autopsy and embalming memorabilia is withdrawn from market | 26 July 2010
The creepy sale of the tools used on the King has been cancelled following an ownership dispute
· Bob Dylan's one-of-a-kind 'Super Man' sketch auctions in the UK | 25 July 2010
Super Man at 110th & CPW, an idea for a painting sketched by the singer, is estimated at £10,000
www.paulfrasercollectibles.com
Images: Bonhams
