A rare acetate demo recording of the Lennon/McCartney song ‘I’ll Be On My Way’, from January 1963, is up for auction next week:
The single-sided, 7″ 45rpm disc has a Dick James Music Limited Demo Disc label which is pasted over a Melodisc label. It has typewritten recording details and is in its original paper sleeve.
This acetate was given to Mike Maxfield (1944-2023) by Paul McCartney. Maxfield was guitarist with The Dakotas, Billy J. Kramer’s backing band, and they recorded the song exclusively as the B-side of their debut single, ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’ (also a Lennon/McCartney song) released in late April 1963.
Mark Lewisohn, in The Complete Beatles Chronicle, lists the song as being part of The Beatles live repertoire of 1961-62. While credited to Lennon/McCartney, this is a song written by Paul in1959, and he takes the lead vocal on this demo recording, although it is not known when and where it was recorded.
It’s thought the acetate was given to Maxfield around January 1963 for Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas to learn and record their version, which took place in March. The only other known version by The Beatles was recorded to be played on the radio by the BBC at its Paris Studio in London. The band were guests on the show Side By Side. They recorded it “as live” on April 4, 1963 and it went to air on June 24. That Beatle recording was first officially released on the 1994 compilation album, Live At The BBC.
For further information on this lot please visit the lot listing at Bonham’s Auctions.
Lots of Beatle items come up for auction and on quite a regular basis too. But it’s a little rare to have an entire auction dedicated entirely to Beatle or Beatle-related content.
TracksAuctions.com was established in the UK in 1989 and has developed a worldwide reputation in the field of pop memorabilia. They have over 35 years experience in trading at the highest level in Beatle and rock ‘n roll collectibles.
Their latest auction is a bit of a treasure trove of items. Anyone looking through the extensive list of lots will have a differtent set of highlights that jump out for them. Or maybe these are interest?
Well, here are the standout items for us.
Lot 7. Apple Employee Telephone and Address Book. This would be truly fascinating to flip through. It is a handwritten telephone and address book from the 1970s and contains Beatles addresses and phone numbers including George Harrison, Ringo Starr (Monte Carlo and L.A), and Paul McCartney.
In the photo above you can see an entry for former Apple Records boss, the late Neil Aspinall. Due to the wonders of Google Maps you can go and have look at where he once lived:
It looks like a very nice area, and if you go for a bit of a wander down the street you might notice the house across the road is called Strawberry Fields! Do you think the owners know they live opposite a former residence of a boss of the Beatles empire?
Other influential names in the book include Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Nat Weiss, Robert Stigwood, Tony Barrow, Peter Brown, Ron Kass, Freda Kelly, Tony Palmer, Denis O’Dell, Derek Taylor, Timothy Leary, Victor Spinetti, Peter Sellers, and Eric Idle, along with numerous record companies, recording studios, media outlets, and other businesses frequented by the Fabs.
Lot 9. Various Artists Apple Records Acetate. This is a 12-inch acetate record containing 23 tracks by various artists. The acetate is on the Apple Corps Ltd. 3 Savile Row Custom Recording label. Was this compilation ever planned for release on Apple, or is it just a party disc put together for fun by the engineers at Apple Studios?
Lot 12. Delaney And Bonnie 1969 Apple Records Withdrawn Album. This one was definitely intended for release by Apple on 30th May 1969, but it was withdrawn due to contractual reasons. As such catalogue number SAPCOR 7 has become very rare indeed. What we have here is one of a small number of pre-release copies that were pressed. In his excellent book Those Were The Days – The Beatles And Apple, Stefan Granados says: “Apple had planned to release their album entitled ‘Accept No Substitute’ on 30th May. Copies of the album had been pressed and were waiting for covers when Apple cancelled….The plan may have been scuttled in part by Apple’s reluctance to pay advances but the inconvenient fact that Delaney and Bonnie were under contract to Elektra Records in the United States is likely to have played a more significant role in the non-appearance of a Delaney and Bonnie album on Apple. For the next year or so, lucky visitors to the Apple office would be given copies of the sleeveless Apple pressing of the album. Copies would also be given to any interested Apple staff and artists.“
Lot 41. The Beatles ‘Love Me Do’ A-Label Demonstration Record. Who wouldn’t want a copy of this in their collection. It takes you right back to just before it all began. This is the “demonstration record” sent out to radio stations in the UK heralding an unknown band from Liverpool. An extremely rare Parlophone white and red ‘A-label’ debut single of ‘Love Me Do’/’P.S. I Love You’. The single was released with the catalogue number 45-R 4949 on October 5, 1962. Even McCartney is misspelled as McArtney on both sides!
Lot 43. The Beatles ‘A Hard Day’s Night’/’Things We Said Today’ 78 RPM. Another grail item for many collectors. This an extremely rare 1964, 10-inch, 78rpm pressing from India of The Beatles single, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’/’Things We Said Today’. The record comes in an original Parlophone paper sleeve too.
Lot 114. The Beatles 1968 Mono ‘White Album’ Number 0000012. Yes, it’s a little beat up, but who wouldn’t want a copy of this rare, low numbered UK mono vinyl pressing of The Beatles’ White Album in their collection? It is number 0000012.
Lot 131. Freda Kelly’s Collection of Fan Club Flexi Discs 1963 to 1969. The Beatles UK Christmas flexi discs are collectable at any time. How much more then would be a complete set (all seven discs) from the woman who ran The Beatles Fan Club from1962 to 1972? Freda’s original flexis are housed in a 1960s hardback record case with her handwritten name and address inside.
Added to the value and collectability is that these exact same discs were used by Apple to produce From Then To You, the 1970 UK LP compilation of all the Beatles Fan Club Christmas messages. Freda recalled that when they came to produce the album EMI didn’t have a complete set of tapes, and nobody at Apple owned a complete set of the flexis. She remembers being asked by Peter Brown to take this exact same set down to Savile Row where they were copied in order to produce the Christmas Fan Club album.
Lot 139. The Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney Autographed ‘White Album’. This is a US album sleeve for the 1968 self-titled album The Beatles, aka the White Album. It has the second highest expected sale price in this Tracks auction of between £25,000 – £35,000 (US$33,000 – $47,000 or AUD$48,000 – $68,000). The reason? It is autographed on the gatefold by both John Lennon and Paul McCartney. John has signed in red felt tipped pen and Paul has autographed in black ballpoint pen. The autographs were signed in the USA in the 1970s. Lennon’s autograph dates to circa 1975 and McCartney’s to 1975/1976.
Lot 206. Paul McCartney ‘McCartney’ Album Press Release. This is an original US press release from April 1970. It is on Apple letterhead and is an important document in the history of the band because it became one of the first public signals that The Beatles were no more. Sent out with promo copies of Paul McCartney’s solo LP McCartney, it consists of four sides of questions and answers relating to the recording. The answers McCartney gave to some of the questions were directly responsible for the subsequent “Paul Quits The Beatles” newspaper headlines and a furore over the group splitting up. The final page bears a printed Paul McCartney signature. Also included are three black and white promotional photographs. One of Paul, one of Paul and Linda and one of Paul and his daughter Mary.
Lastly, to the most expensive lot likely in this auction…..
Lot 246. Paul McCartney November 1966 Hand Drawn Stage Designs For The Four Tops London Performance. In November, 1966 the US group The Four Tops were due to play London’s Saville Theatre, then owned by Beatle manager, Brian Epstein. In preparation for the shows he wanted some spectacular backdrops for the stage and commissioned none other than Paul McCartney to come up with the designs. Paul presented his ideas to Epstein and John Lyndon, a NEMS employee and Director of Productions at the Saville. On a large piece of white paper McCartney hand-sketched and annotated 12 images to be considered and one of these was used for the Four Tops first-ever UK performance.
This item is definitely unique and is expected to fetch in the vicinity of £40,000 – £60,000 (US$53,000 – $80,000 or AUD$78,000 – $117,000).
Well, these are some of the standout lots for us. Have a look through the four pages of treasure on the auction site and let us know which are yours. The Beatles Memorabilia Auction starts on September 27 and runs until October 6.
All items sold through TracksAuctions.com have a lifetime guarantee of authenticity and a money-back warranty.
Back before Christmas you might recall us running a story about Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon sending out another batch of rare, specially cut acetates to a select group of 50 charities. You can read about that here.
Well, one of the charities has been in touch to let us know how they are using their acetate to raise much needed funds to promote the cause of peace. Here’s their press release:
Limited-edition John Lennon and Yoko Ono ‘Give Peace a Chance’ vinyl acetate available in prize draw to fight extreme poverty
International humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide is running a prize draw for the exclusive vinyl acetate, newly released in 2023 and hand-cut at Abbey Road Studios. It is one of 50 that has been gifted by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon to charities that support peace.
Funds raised from the prize draw will go directly towards Concern’s work across 26 countries to end hunger and extreme poverty.
“It’s amazing to be able to offer our supporters the chance to win such an exclusive item, with such an important and unique history, and we’re grateful to Sean and Yoko for including us,” says Lucy Voakes, Fundraising Innovation Manager at Concern.
“The prize draw will raise vital funds at a time when nearly 300 million people around the world need humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies and other economic factors.”
Concern delivers life-changing interventions in some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities, including emergency response, health and nutrition, livelihoods and education.
The record bears a machine-printed signature from Yoko Ono and is a collector’s item. It also includes the B-Side ‘Remember Love.’
‘Give Peace a Chance’ was first produced fifty-five years ago in June 1969, during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “bed-in for peace” in Montréal, Canada. ‘Give Peace a Chance’ quickly became the anthem for the anti-war movement at the time.
To enter the prize draw, visit the charity’s crowdfunder page. Tickets are £5 for a single entry. To enter the draw for free, submit your entry via post. Visit the crowdfunder page for more information: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/give-peace-a-chance-vinyl
So, that means we know where limited edition acetate number 14 of 50 was sent, and how they intend to use it to help fight poverty.
But what of the other 49? We know where they’ve gone (scroll down the News page on the official John Lennon site to see the full list of charities), but what are they actually doing with them?
However, it’s proving a much more difficult task this time around because not many of the charities have (yet) openly publicised their intentions. Here’s our very short list to date:
9/50 Thanks to Discogs we know that this one went to British Red Cross. Not sure what they did with it, but here are a couple of small, somewhat fuzzy images we found:
45/50 War Child UK. They are holding a timed online auction 24 April – 16 May called Spring Clean for War Child. Lots of other rock and pop culture memorabilia is available to bid on, but you’ll need to register. Details on the acetate they were sent – it is Lot 59 – is available here. As of the date of publication the current bid is £500, and there are 13 bidders:
46/50 One of our readers won this disc! It was raffled by War Child Canada and Barry our reader made the winning bid. He’s kindly sent in a couple of photographs, probably the best close-up look at this collectible item we’ve seen yet:
50/50 This was sent to World Vision UK and Liverpool Lighthouse. After hanging on to it for almost a year and a half, they will auction it during a Liverpool Lighthouse event called the Liverpool Gospel Music Festival on Sunday, May 4, 2025 at the Liverpool Olympia. All proceeds will help transform the lives of vulnerable children worldwide:
And finally this one, which shows that the record is indeed a rare, specially cut acetate:
NFT’s, or digital artworks, have become all the rage. And it looks like John Lennon’s son Julian is using them to sell one-off digital representations of some of the Beatle treasures from his personal collection: five gifts he received from his father, and one from Paul McCartney.
NFT stands for Non-fungible token. “Non-fungible” means that it is something unique and can’t be replaced with something else. NFT’s can be anything digital (such as drawings or music), but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art. Oh, and you pay for them in Ethereum – a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin.
The Lennon NFTs are being sold through YellowHeart, an online site specialising in the NFT space, and also through Julien’s Auctions – a more traditional auction house. As you can see on the Julien’s site all current bids have already either met or exceeded the estimated selling prices. The auction closes on February 7.
The pieces for sale are three of John Lennon’s Gibson Les Paul guitars, his Afghan jacket from Magical Mystery Tour, the hooded cape worn for the movie Help!, and Paul McCartney’shand written notes for an arrangement of the song he wrote for Julian called ‘Hey Jude’ (it was originally called ‘Hey Jules’). Each NFT is animated and includes brief audio of Julian discussing the item with that voice-over being incorporated as a part of the NFT.
It should be noted that a portion of the proceeds from this auction will go to Julian’s White Feather Foundation which is active globally on issues relating to education, good health, the preservation of indigenous cultures, the environment and clean water.
If, like us, you don’t have very deep pockets it might be cheaper to seek out a copy of the lovely book Beatles Memorabilia – The Julian Lennon Collection. Each of these items is detailed there, along with a host of other rare collectables.
If you’d like to hear Julian talking about his collection and why he’s gone down the NFT route, check out this video from the True AF Podcast with Eric Fuller:
We love stories like this. This is the tale of a rare Beatle item that almost ended up as landfill. It comes from the Liverpool Echo newspaper.
A British man named Derek Plant was clearing out some records purchased by his late father at a car boot sale some 40 years ago when, by complete accident, he discovered an extremely rare Beatle acetate that no-one knew was there.
It was a recording of the song ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’, made in September 1968. It’s an early take that is quite different to the one that eventually appeared on The White Album:
Back in the day acetate recordings were created at the studio when an artist wanted to take home an example of a song they were working on to listen to some more. They don’t stand up to many plays and are fairly fragile things. In this case an acetate was made for Paul McCartney.
How it came to be in that car boot sale box of records is unknown, but Derek was about to take it to the tip. Unbeknownst to him the rare disc was tucked away inside the cover of this children’s novelty record:
As he was packing his van the Ken Dodd and the Diddymen record just happened to fall out of the box, land on the driveway, and it was only then it revealed it’s Beatle treasure inside. The acetate had been hidden inside that record sleeve all along. Having been a Beatle collector for years, Derek knew immediately that he’d discovered something very special.
The acetate is now up for auction at Omega Auction House’s Beatles Auction in the UK where online bids close on September 28. It is Lot 100. The top estimate by Omega is for the 7″ disc to fetch £10,000 (that’s about US$13,800 or AUS$18,900).
It’s on the way to that figure. At the time of writing someone has already bid £5,000. Not bad for a record that was so very close to being literally thrown away.
It is best known as the mixing desk used to record Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, but this Abbey Road Studios EMI TG12345 MK IV Recording Console was also used by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on various solo projects between 1971-1983:
The TG12345 MK IV, formerly housed in the famous Abbey Road Studio 2, is now up for sale as “Lot 35” in an upcoming Bonhams Auction event featuring a wealth of collectable rock music items. The console comes with letters concerning its provenance, including one from Ken Townsend, Abbey Road Studio manager at the time and future Chairman. Townsend worked with The Beatles as an engineer on numerous albums over the years. There’s a great little film about him here.
The auction will take place in New York on March 27. Click here for more details.
If you are looking for a Christmas gift for the Beatle fan who has everything, then look no further. This fabulous book just out is sure to fit the bill:
If your Beatle fan truly DOES have everything, then The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four will confirm it. And if they don’t, this book will provide an abundance of tempting new objects of desire to be on the lookout for.
Either way, for old hands with large collections, or those just new to collecting, this is a book to dip into, browse and enjoy.
Author Noah Fleisher had a front row seat to the amazing growth and skyrocketing value of all things associated with The Beatles. As the former Public Relations Director for the respected Heritage Auctions in the United States, and through his friendships with dealers and colleagues at other auction houses, Fleisher witnessed the emergence a new era of Beatlemania. He’s written numerous other books about collecting (on topics like Modern Furniture and Children’s Books), but his position within one of the top auction houses put him in the box seat to see and research first-hand thousands of collectable Beatle items over the years.
Not only is his book filled with a huge number of facts, background and information on the band and the many collectable items they have generated as a result of their ongoing success, it is also richly illustrated. Every page is in colour and carries a wealth of photographed examples to illustrate the text. To prove it, here are just a couple of pages, chosen pretty much at random:
(for larger versions click on the images)
There are sections dealing with objects from the band’s early years, their instruments, their movies, photo shoots, merchandise, autographs, hand-written lyrics, and of course – the records, especially the rare ones. When you get the combination of records and autographs (see above for a couple of examples), then you’re talking about some very high-value auction items. Incidentally, the prices fetched for the various items in the book are mentioned throughout.
As it says on the rear cover (see below), The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four is filled with delights and insight. “Readers will discover John Lennon’s lost Gibson guitar now worth millions; the most expensive vinyl record in the world; the sculpted bust featured on the album Hey Jude – along with a fascinating and fun cache of rarities, oddities and never-before-seen items that tell anew the story of The Beatles”.
The section on Lennon’s Gibson J-160E steel string is expertly told by Andy Babiuk, author of the book Beatles Gear. There’s also a lengthy interview with Babiuk included, and lots of photographs of other guitars and drum kits that the Beatles used.
“The story of the Beatles has been told many times though never directly through their collectibles” said Fleisher. “The fact is that the market in Beatles collectibles is as hot as it’s ever been and the respective value of collectibles from each period of the band’s existence tells the story of John, Paul, George and Ringo in a fascinating and fresh way.”
Showcasing more than 600 images from the top music auction houses in the world, and interviews with a wide array of experts and authors, The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four is not only a fun and wonderfully visual read but it’s a great reference and resource for fans and collectors alike.
Highly recommended. (And if you’d like to have a further “look inside”, visit Amazon).
There’s an interesting auction of some cool Beatle items coming up at Heritage Auctions in the USA on June 24 and 25.
The auction is part of a much larger entertainment consignment. The Beatles section starts here.
Amongst the autographs, photographs, ticket stubs and records on offer are two items that caught our eye.
First was this unique poster prepared for Apple/Capitol Records in 1970. It was for distribution to record stores owners as a Christmas greeting:
Second was this very rare example of a working prototype device that Apple employee (and so-called “electronics wizard”) Magic Alex actually produced:As the auction site says: Yanni Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas was associated with the Beatles during the 1965-1969 period, part of that time as head of Apple Electronics, which was a money-losing failure. He impressed the Beatles, especially John Lennon who coined his nickname, with his gadgets and big ideas to revolutionize the consumer electronics business. Mardas claimed he could build them a 72-track recording studio which never materialized. Other of his ideas that never quite worked out include: a flying saucer, loudspeaker wallpaper, a personal pocket force field, invisible paint, and color-changing paint….
The Beatles’ first recording contract, part of a just-concluded New York auction of items from the Uwe Blaschke Collection, has sold for an impressive US$93,750. It went to an unknown internet bidder, but fell short of the predicted US$150,000 target.
The 1961 contract, signed by all four members of the group at that time (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best), was for a recording session with the Polydor company in Germany and produced the single ‘My Bonnie’. It was credited on the label to “Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers” because there was a stipulation in the contract allowing Polydor to use a different group name. They felt the name “Beatles” wouldn’t be readily accepted in the German market. Never-the-less, the group was making it’s very first professional recording for commercial release by an actual record label.
While ‘My Bonnie’ achieved only modest success in Germany, back home in Liverpool Beatle fans who knew about the recording began asking for it in record shops, including the store owned and managed by Brian Epstein. When he learned that the requests were for a local group, he paid a visit to the Cavern club to see what the fuss was about, and the rest is history….
Also in this auction was the 45 single ‘P.S. I Love You’ (the B-side to ‘Love Me Do’) – signed by all four Beatlesand which we wrote about last month. This was the next most expensive item to go under the hammer yesterday. It fetched a substantial US$25,000 from a bidder in the room at the New York auction. This was well above the expected US$10,000:
The third most expensive item on the day was a framed, signed Beatle fan card photo from 1962. On the back is printed “With Best Wishes from Paul, Pete, John, and George. The Beatles. April 5th 1962”. Around that text are a number of signatures: “für Christa von George Harrison”, “für Christa von Paul McCartney”, “Roy Young” (a British Rock singer and pianist), “für Christa von John Lennon”, “Best Wishes from Pete Best”, and “Best Wishes from Bernard Boyle” (the founder of the Beatles Fan Club). These fan cards were given out at a Cavern Club concert on April 5 honoring the Official Fan Club. This sold for US$12,500:
If you are into Beatle autographs – and you have very deep pockets – Heritage Auctions in the US has an original copy of the single ‘Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You’ coming up as part of their Entertainment and Music Memorabilia Signature Auction in September.
The Heritage website says this is a genuine UK first pressing 45, and one of the first-ever signed Beatle records.
The Beatles’ first single for EMI was released on October 5, 1962. The very next day they traveled the short distance from Liverpool to Widnes in Lancashire for a 4:00 official autograph signing appearance (the first of only three in their career) at Dawson’s Music Shop. For thirty minutes, the Beatles signed copies of their brand new single for fans. This is one of the records signed that day, on the “B” side (P.S. I Love You) in black ballpoint.
(click on the image to see a clearer version)
The record comes mounted alongside a vintage black and white glossy photograph of the group taken during a January,1963 appearance at Brian Epstein’s NEMS record store in Liverpool, with three young ladies offering up singles for autographs (although what these are is not clear as ‘From Me To You’ was the first Beatle 7″ single released using the plain green Parlophone paper sleeves they are holding – see The Beatles With Records Part Fifteen):
According to Bruce Spizer and Frank Daniel’s reference book Beatles For Sale on Parlophone Records the autographed disc for auction is one of the “few thousand” pressed for the October 5, 1962 release with the very first version of the record label. The main indication is that “the initial labels have the Ardmore & Beechwood publishing credit left-aligned and slightly indented so that the ‘B’ is above the ‘XC’ in the matrix number prefix 7XCE.” All the other “tells” match including the tax code pressed into the trail off area, being “ZT”.
Bidding kicks of at US$5,000, and the disc is expected to fetch somewhere closer to US$10,000.
The record is just a small part of what is on offer – Heritage have gathered together roughly 300 lots from one of the biggest and most important Beatle memorabilia collections in the world – the Uwe Blaschke Collection.
You can seen more about other items to be offered – including the Beatles’ very first signed contract (expected to fetch a stunning US$150,000) here:
Beatles Blog 