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Author Topic: Beatles Autographs  (Read 1753 times)

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TomMo

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Beatles Autographs
« on: June 09, 2012, 11:27:45 PM »

To this day, I am still kicking myself in the arse because I had the opportunity to buy all four Beatles signatures on one document and didn't do it. If I give you all my address, would you consider stopping by and applying more kicks to my aforementioned arse?

The autographs were on an original Cavern Club "membership" book, a tiny little booklet, maybe 2.5x3.5. The signatures were not all on the same page. Ringo's signature was there, so this must have been from one of their last gigs there. The opportunity to buy it was around 1983, and came with a certificate of authenticity from the girl in Liverpool who owned it. I saw the autographs and they looked like the real deal. The booklet itself looked old enough to be real, and there were other signatures (not necessarily famous) inside. The Beatles autographs looked appropriately "aged" (after 20+ years), and didn't stand out from other signatures in any way. the asking price was... $1700!

I could have put it on a credit card. Actually, I wouldn't have had any other choice because I didn't have the cash with me, and there were other buyers interested. Tough choice. I hope I made the right one. I've been dreading trying to find out what its value would be today.

Anyway, I had a question related to this for discussion. As has been mentioned in many sources, sometimes Neil or Mal would be asked by a fan to get the Fabs' autographs (backstage or in a hotel room). Often Neil or Mal would do their best to comply, but sometimes one Beatle would not be available to sign, in which case, one of the two would forge the missing Beatle's signature. Would a set of autographs with a "roadie" forgery be just as valuable? Would a Neil forgery be just as valuable as a Mal forgery? As silly as this may sound, there must be many such forgeries out in the market and I wonder if a serious collector might still pay big dollars for it.

Here's what must be the most collectible forgery of all: When the Anthology book was published, each surviving Beatle received a large number of copies to give away to friends. All the books were passed around by the Threetles to autograph. Once George got hold of his share of the autographed copies, he then forged John's signature - as a joke. No doubt, John would have loved it.
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peterbell1

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Re: Beatles Autographs
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2012, 09:17:59 AM »

I'm sure that sets that were part or fully signed by Mal or Neil will be valued a lot less than a fully signed Beatles set.

I looked at the Tracks UK website to see if there were any examples of Neil/Mal sets - just to check out the values - but I couldn't find one.

But I did find an example of a set where all four names are signed by George - on a copy of the 1st pressing of the Love Me Do 45 - and that is valued at £1,200.
Meanwhile, another copy of Love Me Do where all four Beatles have signed individually is valued at £17,500.
So there's obviously a massive difference in prices when the signatures aren't genuine, even if another Beatle was the "forger"!!
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TomMo

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Re: Beatles Autographs
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2012, 02:43:05 PM »


So there's obviously a massive difference in prices when the signatures aren't genuine, even if another Beatle was the "forger"!!

Thanks for sharing. It IS interesting that a forgery manages to fetch a decent price. I suppose there is a website that discusses all the variables in appraising values. Is a fully legible Lennon signature worth more than a "Jo L(scribble)" signature? That kind of thing.
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