Beatles contract expected to fetch £500000

The contract that launched the career of the Beatles was sold Tuesday in London for £365,000 (S$788,500), auction house Sotheby’s said.

Signed and sealed just days before the release of their first ever single Love Me Do, it’s the only management contract the Fab Four ever signed with Epstein.

The contract features the signatures of John Winston Lennon, James Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Richard Starkey, a.k.a. Ringo Starr, while the fathers of McCartney and Harrison also co-signed the document since their sons were then under the age of 21.

A powder blue Fender Stratocaster played by Eric Clapton sold for £45,000.

The terms of the contract outline Epstein’s wide-ranging duties for the group, which included publicity, advertising, organizing concerts and recording sessions, and advising the band on clothes, makeup and the presentation of the band’s performances.

It was the only deal signed by the four final Beatles members with Epstein, who died from an accidental overdose in 1967 and was dubbed the “fifth Beatle” by McCartney. The rebellious pupil was in trouble for misdemeanors such as “impertinence”, “groaning”, “nuisance in class”, “foolish remarks” and “not wearing school cap”.

It last went under the hammer in 2008 at an auction in London when it went for £240,000.

Bob Dylan’s original typewritten lyrics to “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, also from 1962, did not find a buyer against an estimate of £200,000.

Oscar Peterson’s Rolex was unsold and other Bruce lots were sidelined as collectors weighed interest, estimates and historical significance. Records in 1977. This wasn’t quite in Beatles territory though. It sold for £2,500 (about $3,900) on a £2,000-3,000 estimate (about $3,100-4,700).