Beatles

The Five Most Expensive Beatles Collectibles

Wikicollecting.org, a new collaborative wiki project for collectors, has created the a list of the top five most expensive collectibles associated with The Beatles. The popular band has spawned many museums and items that are associated with members of the band, especially in relation to the creation of their music, sell very well, often at auction at some of the world's top houses. The top collectibles are associated with the life and music of John Lennon.

1) John Lennon's Rolls-Royce Phantom V – $2.23 million. In 1985, a psychedelic hand-painted Rolls-Royce Phantom V owned by John Lennon was sold by Sotheby's. This amazing car with custom modifications including a seat that converts to a double bed, a television and an interior-exterior sound system, is housed at the Royal BC Museum. Canadian businessman Jim Pattison donated the car to the museum.

2) The piano John Lennon used to write Imagine - $2.1 million. The simple walnut-finished Steinway upright that John Lennon used to write the song "Imagine" is an example of a humble collectible that has acquired value because it is part of history. It is considered to be one of the most valuable pieces of music memorabilia with a current estimated value of $8 million to $12 million. Musician George Michael bought the piano at auction for $2.1 million in 2000 and composed the song "Patience" on it. The instrument was recently on loan to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

Tags: beatles, beatles memorabilia, john lennon, most expensive, the beatles

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Limited Edition Beatles Pens Go On Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

Has the addition of the Beatles catalog to iTunes spawned a new Beatlemania? Accessories maker Acme Studio has inked a new deal with Apple Records and The Beatles. The brand has already created pens, mirrors, business card cases and more that capture the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, Karim Rashid, Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey and Sue Wong. The new line will include pens, watches, business card cases and eyeglass cases. The first designs will be released in May 2011 with year pens evocative of each year the band was together (1962-1970) and 13 limited edition pen and business card case sets for all of their UK album covers. The priciests set is a set of four pens for four Beatles, consisting of interchangeable rollerball, felt tip, fountain pen, and ballpoint pens. This item is limited to 600 produced and sells at UnicaHome for $450.

Tags: acme studio, Acme Studios, beatles, pensions, the beatles

Beatles Museum Opens In Buenos Aires

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

A passionate Beatles memorabilia collector in Buenos Aires, Argentina who has amassed the one of the world's largest collections is now letting the public enjoy it. Rodrigo Vazquez, who works as an accountant, first fell in love with the Beatles as a child. He now has a treasure trove of more than 8,500 objects including a brick from The Cavern Club, a check for 11 pounds signed by Ringo Starr, records, gadgets, puppets and games, basically everything from mop top wigs to John Lennon condoms.

The Associated Press reports that more than 2,200 of them are on display in the Beatles Museum that just opened this month on Avenue Corrientes. There are other Beatles museums around the world including the one in Liverpool, England, the home of the Fab Four. The museum in Argentina is less of a museum and more of just an incredible collection. The breadth of items on display gives a look at just how pervasive (and marketable) Beatlemania was. Vasquez plans to rotate the objects in the museum so that the public can see them rather than having them tucked away in boxes.

Tags: argentina, beatlemania, beatles, buenos aires, fab bour, rodrigo vazquez

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Beatles Album Turns Crosswalk Into A Protected Site

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The Beatles made the a crosswalk near the Abbey Road music studios in London famous back in 1969 when a photo of the Fab Four striding across the zebra crossing was on the cover of the "Abbey Road" album. The image, which features John Lennon leading the group in a white suit, has been imitated by many who have visited the site. Now the crosswalk is the first street crossing to ever be declared a historic landmark by the British government. The Abbey Road music studios declared a historic landmark back in February. The crossing was given Grade II status, an honor generally reserved for buildings of historic significance.

This year has seen a resurgence of interest in the iconic band with the release of Beatles music on iTunes and celebrations of John Lennon's life in honor of the 30th anniversary of his death and what would have been his 70th birthday. Paul McCartney, who appeared on the cover as the only barefoot Beatle, said that it was a"a great year for me and a great year for the Beatles and hearing that the Abbey Road crossing is to be preserved is the icing on the cake."

Tags: Abbey Road, abbey road studios, beatles, john lennon, paul mccartney

Beatles Lyrics Bring $1.2 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

As we mentioned back in April, the John Lennon-penned lyrics to "A Day in the Life" were set to be auctioned off by Sotheby's New York today, June 18. "A Day in the Life" is the last song on The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and considered to be one of the best songs of all time. The lyrics sold for $1.2 million beating the estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. The paper shows Lennon's edits and corrections with some words scrawled out and annotations in red ink. The song has separate parts written by Lennon and McCartney connected by an orchestral score.

Three bidders competed for the lot with the winning bid being made by an unidentified American bidder over the phone. Sotheby's London sold the lyrics in 1992 and Bonhams in New York offered them in a sealed-bid auction in 2006 but they didn't sell. The most expensive Beatles handwritten lyric record still belongs to the lyrics for "All You Need Is Love" which sold for $1.25 million in 2005 at the Cooper Owen auction house.

Tags: beatles, expire-images:2010-7-18, LyricsBorn, music video, RockBand, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, sothebys, the beatles

Rock Gods' Guitars Star in Christie's Sale

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

A killer collection of guitars owned by some of the great rock gods are the starring attraction in Christie's' Rock and Pop Memorabilia sale in London on June 24. While George Harrison's acoustic Yamaha guitar from 1994 signed by the Beatle is the priciest at an estimated $72,000 - $86,000, in aesthetic terms it's the least interesting lot. We much prefer the collection of instruments owned by members of The Who (above), in particular Pete Townshend and John Entwistle. The top pick is a custom made mahogany Gibson SG used by Townshend during the band's 1971 U.S. tour, estimated at $29,000 - $43,000. An newer acoustic guitar of his meanwhile is estimated at $8,500 - $11,500. Entwistle's Peter Cook Custom bass from the 1970s is estimated at $21,500 - $29,000, while his 1962 Fender Precision bass is estimated at $11,500 - $14,500. Eric Clapton's 1996 Fender Stratocaster 50th Anniversary edition with a gold-plated body is pricey at $29,000 - $43,000; much better deals are to be had with Marc Bolan of T.Rex's 1968 Fender Custom Telecaster and an early 1970s Gibson Les Paul owned by the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones, both estimated at $14,500 - $22,000.

Tags: Beatles, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, guitar, guitars, London, Memorabilia, Pete Townshend, rock and roll, The Beatles, The Who

Unused Beatles Album Art Goes Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The painting shown above, a 1968 watercolor by American artist Jim Dine, has an interesting story. The work was originally commissioned by Capitol Records for a Beatles album which was never made because the Beatles left Capitol and formed the Apple Records label. The graphite and watercolor on vellum lot of five works depict individual toothbrushes labeled for each member of the band The pieces, which are expected to bring $25,000-35,000, have been in the private collection of former president of Capital Records, Sal Iannucci, and his wife Aileen.

These unique pieces are part of the Bonhams & Butterfields fall auction of Modern, Contemporary and Latin American Art on November 17, 2009 in Los Angeles. The over 200-lot sale will include pieces by Alexander Calder, Paul Cézanne, Pedro Coronel, Emil Filla, George Grosz, Armand Guillaumin, Henri Lebasque, Fernand Léger, Maximilien Luce, Diego Rivera, Frank Stella, Maurice Utrillo, Andy Warhol and Francisco Zúñiga, as well as a selection of contemporary Asian art. The auction catalogue's cover lot, Study for a Blue Nude, 2000 by Tom Wesselmann is expected to bring $50,000-70,000.

Gallery: Four Beatles, Four Toothbrushes

Source

Tags: apple records, AppleRecords, art, beatles, capitol records, CapitolRecords, george harrison, GeorgeHarrison, jim dine, JimDine, john lennon, JohnLennon, music memorabilia, MusicMemorabilia, paul mccartney, PaulMccartney, ringo starr, RingoStarr

Will A Beatles "Butcher Cover" Sell For A Price Set By John Lennon?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Last year, we ran a piece on the world of rare records but if a copy of the Beatles infamous "butcher cover" sells for its asking price it might set a new record. To coincide with the worldwide release of the digitally re-mastered back catalog of every Beatles album on 09/09/09 the Saint Giles Street Gallery in Norwich, England in association with the British Beatles Fan Club is showing the "Eleven Million Dollar Picture Show", a collection of rarely photographs and other memorabilia. The show includes an original banned Beatles "butcher cover", a printer's proof from the personal collection of John Lennon. The "butcher cover" will be exhibited with a note signed by John Lennon that says, "here's the famous banned butcher cover. You can sell it for 11 million dollars". And that will be the price. The album will be on show and on sale for $11 million from the September 10 onward. Butcher album covers vary in price generally fetching several thousand dollars.

The cover was the original cover of Yesterday and Today issued only in the United States and Canada. The original cover image, showing the band in white butcher coats holding doll parts and pieces of meat was shot by photographer Robert Whitaker. A few original covers were shipped to disc jockeys and store managers and an outcry immediately arose. The album was hastily recalled and a new cover was slapped on. In the collectibles world there are original untouched covers, covers bearing the second image and covers that have had the second image removed or partially peeled off. The rarer versions are still in the original shrink wrap.

[via Beatles News]

Tags: beatles, butcher, butcher cover, ButcherCover, john lennon, JohnLennon, rare records, RareRecords

Rare Recording of Inebriated John Lennon for Sale

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

A rare, never-publicly-heard recording of a drunk and high John Lennon improvising naughty song lyrics is on offer for an estimated $30,000 - $40,000 at Bonhams' Entertainment Sale in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The six minute audiocasette, recorded in the fall of 1973, features Lennon's off-the-cuff rendition of the Lloyd Price song "Just Because." The recording took place during what Lennon referred to as his "Lost Weekend" when he and Yoko Ono separated and he took up with mistress May Pang.

The cassette is an outtake from a recording session for the song, which was included on Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll. At the time, while working on the album with Phil Spector in Los Angeles, Lennon was heavily into drink and drugs, as reflected in the recording.

Though some of Lennon's lyrics are garbled, he can be heard to sing, in part, "I wanna take all them new singers, Carol and the other one with the nipples, I wanna take 'em and hold 'em tight, all them people that James Taylor had...I wanna suck your nipples, baby... Just a little cocaine will set me right."

Tags: Beatles, John Lennon, JohnLennon, Music

Bloomingdale's Exclusive Beatles iPod Set

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

Attention Beatles fans, Bloomingdale's has a music package tailor-made for you. The Beatles iPod Set includes a special limited edition 120 G black iPod (it's etched with the Beatles' logo on the front and Abbey Road on the back),13 original Beatles' CDs plus 2 masters and the "Love" cd, plus an engraved guitar pick.

The package isn't Apple's idea but Bloomingdale's, which means the music on all the included cds doesn't come pre-loaded on the iPod and isn't even all available on iTunes. Bizarre.

But even if you have to rip your own mp3s it's still a great package and there are only 2500 available, exclusively at Bloomingdale's, for $795 each.

Via Wired

Source

Tags: beatles, bloomingdales, iPod, mp3, mp3 player, mp3 players, Mp3Player, Mp3Players, music

"Beatles Flat" For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Just a week ago, we mentioned the opening of the Beatles hotel in Liverpool, for those with more cash and a deeper case of Beatlemania you can own a flat once rented by the Beatles in London for £1.75 million (around $3.415 million). The top floor property on Green Street, Mayfair is notable because it is the only home in which all four Beatles lived together. The four shared the property for a few months in the autumn of 1963. An early publicity photo of the Beatles peering over a banister was taken at the top of the property's communal stairwell. The property is now a two-bedroom apartment that includes a large living area, master bedroom and guest bedroom and it doesn't look anything like it did when the Beatles lived there.

[Thanks, Lana]

Gallery: Beatles Flat

Source

Tags: beatles, flat, london, mayfair

Beatles Hotel Opens in Liverpool

by Laura Malesich (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Stay in Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool and you may just relive a distant memory of a Beatles concert from long ago. With Lennon and McCartney suites available in the birthplace of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest icons, Liverpool is bound to attract even more Beatles fans than ever before. This new attraction is sure to help the town's transformation from commercial marketplace to cultural hot spot. The hotel will feature 110 rooms for $340 per night, with the suites running for $1,300 per night, a Yellow Submarine jukebox, a stylish, basement bar, and modern European restaurant-- and of course tons of Beatles paraphernalia and music to boot. It opened on the first of February and is sure to bring tourists and music lovers from miles around, for years to come.

Source

Tags: Beatles, Hard-Days-Night, Lennon, liverpool, McCartney, Yellow-Submarine

John Lennon's hair sells for $48,000

by Sandy Maple (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

If you thought the Beatles were so Yesterday, think again. A lock of hair from the late John Lennon sold for an incredible $48,000 at an auction held Wednesday at Gorringes in Worthington. The lock of hair, along with an autographed copy of Lennon's book A Spaniard in the Works, was part of the collection of Betty Glasow, hairdresser to The Beatles during the 1960's filming of A Hard Day's Night and Help.

Also sold at the auction were signed Beatles photographs, including one dedicated to Glasow and signed "George "Dandruff" Harrison" that went for $13,000.

So, what motivated Glasow to part with her treasures after all these years? She says that rather than have these items languishing in a drawer somewhere, she wanted fans to have the opportunity to enjoy them.

Source

Tags: auction, beatles, john lennon, john lennons hair, JohnLennon, JohnLennonsHair

Lennon's Glasses to Sell for $1.5 Million or More at Auction

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Celebrity Shopping

John Lennon's glasses, yes the legend himself, are up for auction on the British site 991.com. The Beatle's gold wire rimmed sunglasses are currently owned by a Japanese TV producer named Junishi Yore who got them back in 1966 when he worked as a translator for the Beatles, and they'll come with a handwritten note from Yore explaining how he came to get them from Lennon. Estimates are predicting the auction will end somewhere around $1.5 million or higher, although it's a private auction so we'll have to wait and see when the bidding ends on July 31st.

Source

Tags: 991, 991.com, auction, Beatle, Beatles, glasses, john lennon, JohnLennon, lennon, sunglasses, The Beatles, TheBeatles, yore

Handwritten Beatles' Lyrics For Sale

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Handwritten by George Harrison in "barely legible penmanship," a sheet of paper bearing the original lyrics to the Beatles song While My Guitar Gently Weeps will by auctioned off on Monday at the Barrett-Jackson & Cooper Auctions Rock 'n' Roll auction in Scottsdale. According to the auction houses, "it shows the work in progress" because it includes some lyrics that didn't make it into the final song, and is a "really significant and rare piece of memorabilia" that just about any Beatles fan would want to have. It is also one of the most highly valued items in the auction, with an estimated price of $500,000 to $800,000. Some of the lyrics to Hey Jude are on the back of the paper.

Other lots include memorabilia from the Doors, Elvis, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix and Britney Spears, as well as more Beatles items, such as an original John Lennon drawing ($40-50K).

Source

Tags: auction, Beatles, George Harrison, GeorgeHarrison, memorabelia, music, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps

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