PAUL ON THE RUN

ultimateclassicrock.com
Beatles Rare Autographed Single Sells for Five Figures on eBay
by: Karen 'Gilly' Laney

beatlebay.uk, ebay

An autographed Beatles ‘Please Please Me’ Red Parlophone single sold on Ebay on Nov. 14 for approximately $12,720.00. This rarity was signed on the A-side by George Harrison and John Lennon while signatures from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were on the B-side of the record, which plays ‘Ask Me Why.’

There are numerous reasons one might consider this such a rarity, and therefore worthy of a bid that equals the value of a nice used car in America. Firstly, it is one of only three known copies to surface from the signing session at NEMS on Jan. 24, 1963. Beatles autographs have also sharply risen in value over the past decade, especially if they are from the early part of their career and on their own records versus other paper artifacts.
Other points that might justify a bid such as this, is the fact that this single went through Tracks Ltd, who are one of the biggest dealers and authenticators in the UK and Europe. This copy, included that additional guarantee of of its authentication. Furthermore, the vinyl was listed in very good condition with no warps.
Beatles experts believe that there were only three occasions when the band sat down together for an autograph session. The seller lists these three occasions as; Oct. 6, 1962 the day after ‘Love Me Do’ was released at Dawson’s Music Shop, Jan. 24, 1963 at Brian Epstein’s NEMS Record Store, two weeks after ‘Please Please Me’ was released and lastly Dec. 14, 1963 at the Beatles London Fan Club Convention.
This single is believed to have been signed on the second of these occasions, a day that began with the Fab Four making an appearance at NEMS central Liverpool store. They autographed copies of the single and gave a brief acoustic performance on the stairs.
If anyone was on the fence about justifying the price they’d pay for this 45, the seller also promised to toss in a set of ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘Please Please Me’ singles with the JR stampers on them. Stamper codes are usually only found on demo copies of a single, it’s extremely rare to find them on regular stock copies. So there you have it, three singles for the price of a nice used car!