Beatles 'Love Me Do' demo worth £20,000 handed to a charity shop by unwitting owner

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Beatles 'Love Me Do' demo worth £20,000 handed to a charity shop by unwitting owner who gave the 'not for sale' vinyl to British Heart Foundation
º  Staff were shocked to uncover the demo of The Beatles' first single
º  It had been placed in a carrier bag with 25 other vinyls and given to the store 
º  The record features a misspelling of Paul McCartney’s name, with the words ‘Lennon–McArtney’ 
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 12 March 2019

A rare Beatles record thought to be worth £20,000 has been put up for auction – after its owner unwittingly donated it to a charity shop.

British Heart Foundation staff were shocked to uncover the 7in demo of The Beatles’ first single Love Me Do, which had been placed in a carrier bag with 25 other vinyls and given to the store in Midhurst, West Sussex.

The record features a misspelling of Paul McCartney’s name, with the words ‘Lennon–McArtney’ appearing on the label instead. The words ‘Demonstration Record’ and ‘Not For Sale’ are also on the label.


Super rare promo copy of the historic first Beatles single - the humble 45 inch single is already at £3000 on Ebay


The charity shop in Midhurst (pictured above) where the record was spotted 

Around 250 of the demos were pressed by Parlophone Records and sent to the BBC for radio airplay when the Fab Four were virtually unknown.

The charity has put the vinyl up for auction on eBay. Last night, bidding had reached £3,500 with 25 bids lodged – and with over 260 people ‘watching’ the item and a deadline of 10pm today, that figure is expected to rocket.

An identical record sold for £7,000 in 2013, but industry experts believe the latest find could sell for three times that figure. The proceeds will go to the charity.


Bidding Frenzy - the humble 45 inch single is already at £3000 on Ebay and industry insiders say it could go for £25,000


The B side of the Parlophone single has another early Lennon & McCartney track 'PS I Love You' 

Preston Davies, of the Foundation, said he had to ‘pinch’ himself when he found out.

He said: ‘Our teams know what to look out for in terms of rare items. I don’t think the woman who dropped it off realised it was in the bag. We have tried to find out who she was but we have no idea.’

Referring to the eBay listing, he added: ‘Interest in it is going up and up. There are 260 watchers so who knows what the bidding will end up at.’