Vintage Paul McCartney letter sells for £34,850
Written by admin on November 16, 2011 – 9:21 am -A letter from Paul McCartney to an unknown drummer has sold at auction for £34,850 ($55,865).
The letter, dated 12 August, 1960, was written by McCartney in response to a notice placed by the drummer in the Liverpool Echo. McCartney was inviting the drummer to audition for the then unknown Beatles, noting that he must be available for a trip to Hamburg, expenses paid £18 per week (approx.), for 2 months.
The Beatles left for Hamburg with drummer Pete Best a few days after the letter was written, and this is the first evidence that they considered a drummer other than Best for the Hamburg gigs.
Image credit: Christies Auction House
Neil Roberts, of Christie’s, told the BBC:
| “One of the best aspects of my work is the rare occasion when, out of the blue, you are made aware of the existence of something so extraordinary, it alters the knowledge of your specialist field. This letter has proved to be such a case. |
The letter was one of 215 lots in Christie’s “Pop Culture: Rock and Pop Memorabilia” auction. The item that attracted the highest bid was a hand-written placard written by John Lennon to display at the Montreal Bed-In for Peace in 1969. The placard sold for £97,250 ($155,892).
Image credit: Christies Auction House
Other high selling items included the guitar Pete Townshend played at Live Aid in 1985 (£34,850/$55,865), 35mm black and white transparencies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken in Paris in March, 1969 (£30,000/$48,090), and a flamboyant cropped jacket worn by Marc Bolan on stage between 1975 and 1977 (£3,750/$6,011).
Tags: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney letter, The Beatles
Posted in Auctions, The Beatles |
