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Beatles for sale – rare 60-year-old autographs of Fab Four unearthed in Ellon home to go under the hammer
A rare set of autographs by The Beatles are to go under the hammer after laying undiscovered in an Aberdeenshire home for decades.
The signatures of the Fab Four were obtained during the height of Beatlemania during the Liverpool band’s concerts in Nottingham and Coventry in 1963.
The Beatles’ first concert in Nottingham was on March 7, 1963 at the Elizabethan Ballroom above the Co-op on Upper Parliament Street.
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Nottingham Co-op’s chief security manager John Florio was in the perfect position to chat to the foursome when they arrived.
He, wife Fay and their 13-year-old daughter Patricia – known to most of her friends and family as Paddy – were at the concert, met The Beatles and obtained their signatures across two pages of Patricia’s autograph book.
Paul, George and Ringo wrote in pencil, with John inscribing in blue ink ‘To Pat love from John Lennon xxx’.
Paddy and husband Bob Kyle, who passed away in 2010, moved their family to Aberdeenshire in 1979, settling in Ellon.
The autographs only came to light again recently following Patricia’s death aged 73 where they had lain undiscovered for years.
Daughter Bridget Gray, who grew up in the north-east but recently moved back to the Midlands and now lives on the Worcestershire/Warwickshire border, said the discovery was a ‘wonderful piece of memorabilia’.
The 48-year-old said: “It’s been a bit of a hidden treasure – we knew they had met The Beatles but we didn’t realise my mum still had the book because they had moved house a number of times.
“My grandad got to meet a lot of celebrities in his job and the autograph book is a wonderful piece of memorabilia.”
The autograph book’s inside front cover is signed Patricia Anne Florio above the wording ‘best wishes to me from myself’.
As well as The Beatles, it also features The Beatmen of Nottingham and inscriptions from friends and relatives.
The collection includes a photo of Patricia with The Big Three, a Merseybeat band with a close connection to The Beatles, plus Parlophone Records postcards of The Beatles, an autographed Decca postcard of The Bachelors and a Nottingham Theatre Royal leaflet promoting the band as a headline act.
There is also a Stanley Matthews postcard promoting CWS football boots at the Co-op and a piece of commemorative embroidery marking Nottingham Co-operative’s centenary 1863 to 1963.
The incredible Aberdeenshire discovery is just one of two lots to be sold at at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Staffordsire on June 6 where they are expected to fetch between £3,000 to £4,000 per set.
Another set will also be auctioned from a concert the same year in Coventry.
Fourteen-year-old Gwen Danks and her friends would frequent the stage doors on Sunday afternoons to get autographs- which resulted in her capturing never-seen-before pictures of Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
Photos and the signatures she obtained from the Beatles at what would be the final time they ever played Coventry will also be auctioned.
Gwen’s other signatures include the Springfields – featuring the legendary Dusty – plus Helen Shapiro, The Kinks, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, Kenny Lynch, Joe Brown, Brenda Lee and Del Shannon.
Another autograph book of Gwen’s includes Gene Pitney, Peter and Gordon, Tommy Quickly, The Honeycombs, Dave Berry, The Cruisers, Cilla Black, The Zombies, The Applejacks and A Band Of Angels.
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Auctioneer Richard Winterton said: “Sixty years on from their early days which snowballed into Beatlemania, the Fab Four retain a legendary status across the world with an unsurpassed legacy.
“The global fascination with The Beatles is underlined by continuing new projects, such as Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary series Get Back, and cemented by Paul McCartney’s historic performance at last year’s Glastonbury with more than 100,000 people watching 80-year-old Paul become the festival’s oldest headliner.
“It’s fab to have a one complete set of Beatle signatures with such impeccable provenance; to have two come to light within hours of each other is remarkable.
“Those autographs, happily signed to put smiles on the faces of teenage fans, have taken on huge significance.
“As a lifelong Beatles fan, to talk to someone who met all four Beatles right at the very start of their gigantic journey is fascinating.“And in the case of one of the collections here, there are even photos taken on the day of signing, giving us a never-before-seen snapshots of Paul and George right on the cusp of the explosion of Beatlemania.”
The autographs feature in Day Two of Richard Winterton Auctioneers’ Antiques & Home Sale at The Lichfield Auction Centre on Tuesday, June 6, starting at 9.30am.
The catalogue will be online a week before the sale via www.richardwinterton.co.uk/auction-dates and viewing in person takes place on Friday, June 2, from 10am-4pm.
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