A SIGNED album by The Beatles has sold for a record £9,600 at Wokingham Auctions.
The rare edition of the group’s debut album, Please Please Me, would have cost £1.12s to buy in 1963 when it was first released.
Telephone bids poured in from Germany, Canada and Australia although the winning bid came from the south of England.
Auctioneer, Pascal McNamara said the album signed by John, Paul, George and Ringo, was extremely rare.
“The record itself was in excellent condition and the cover which had a plastic wrapper was slightly worn but still very good,” he explained.
“What really got the bids flying was the fact it had been signed by all four of the Beatles. Without their signatures, it was probably worth around £700 to £900.”
The Beatles recorded Please Please Me in a single day in February 1963 after having a number of hit singles. Their producer, George Martin, needed at least 12 songs to make an album.
Among those listed on the sleeve are I Saw Her Standing There, Love Me Do, Twist And Shout and the title song. The studio time cost just £400 and the Beatles each received £7.10s for the session.
Pascal said the sale created “an amazing buzz” during the bidding at Wokingham Town Hall.
“So many bids had already come in before we started the auction so I began at £8,200 and it just went up from there,” he added.
“Telephone bids were coming in from all over the world. It was very exciting.”
The vendor was a lady from Cheshire who found the record among her late sister’s possessions. She believed the album was signed by the band members at a concert shortly after it was released and it had been played at parties over the years.
Added Pascal: “It just shows you never know what might lying be in the family attic. That’s why we hold regular valuations at The Vintage Look, Henley-on-Thames and in Wokingham town hall.”
