THE BEATLES FIRST CONTRACT FETCHES $211,597 AT LIVEAUCTIONEERS.COM
Source: LiveAuctioneers.comLocation: New York City
- Rare Document Breaks Record for Highest Amount Achieved Through LiveAuctioneers by a Non-US Auction House -
New York, NY – December 4, 2008 – www.liveauctioneers.com, the leading online resource for high end art, antiques and collectibles, announced today the online sale of the Beatles’ first contract for $211,597, the highest amount ever achieved through LiveAuctioneers by a non-US based auction house. The historic document which cemented the Fab Four’s partnership with manager Brian Epstein in 1962 was featured as part of a live and online auction conducted on November 27 by the Fame Bureau in London.
LiveAuctioneers’ CEO, Julian R. Ellison, said he was “ecstatic to see that people have the confidence to purchase items online at this price level. Because this was the very first contract signed by the Beatles and Brian Epstein, it is especially significant to the history of pop music. There’s no overestimating its importance.”
The Fame Bureau described the contract as an important document in both music and British history.
All four members of the Beatles signed the initial contract on Jan. 24, 1962. The Fame Bureau’s auction catalog noted that, according to Epstein’s memoirs, the Beatles’ first manager refrained from signing the management contract to give the lads the ability to walk away from the agreement if he did not fulfill his promise of landing them major recording contract. By Oct. 1 that year, Epstein, believing he had thus far fulfilled his role as manager, had added his name to the contract. He had signed the Beatles to a recording contract with EMI, and their first single, Love Me Do, was about to be released.
The five-year contract called for Epstein to receive 25 percent of the gross earnings of the band. The document detailed Epstein’s obligations, including undertaking all advertising and publicity for the musicians and advising them on matters concerning clothes, makeup and presentation and construction of their acts.
Included on the document are the signatures of George Harrison’s and Paul McCartney’s fathers, as those younger Beatles were under the age of 21. The contract contains two signatures by John Lennon, who, inadvertently signed in the wrong place. Realizing his mistake, he struck through the first signature and signed again in the correct position.
This contract was later updated by a supplementary agreement, also signed by all parties on Jan. 22, 1963, which was included with the lot. All signatures on both the management contract and the supplementary agreement were accompanied by a red wax seal and the signatures of attending witnesses.
Ellison remarked that there has been no downturn in the bidding volume through LiveAutioneers since the recent woes in world financial markets. “It has held very strong,” he said. “As a general trend, people are turning more and more to the Internet for all types of buying. We’ve noticed a marked bidding increases in sales conducted by auction houses internationally, as well.”
About www.liveauctioneers.com
Founded in November 2002 and recently named to Inc. Magazine’s 2008 list of the 5000 fastest-growing privately held companies, Manhattan-based www.liveauctioneers.com provides real-time Internet bidding capability to more than 730 auction houses in a dozen countries. LiveAuctioneers.com has opened up once-exclusive sales to the cyber community worldwide through online publication of auction catalogs, and Internet bidding. Similar to telephone bidding, buyers at remote locations can conveniently participate in auctions in real time from their computers as the auction is being conducted. There is no cost to register and no obligation to bid; anyone can watch the action online, in real time. For further information, log on to www.liveauctioneers.com.
