Pro tip for the auction: Use my links below to check the current high bid. If you\u2019re serious, throw a bid on it now to stake your claim. It helps support the channel at no cost to you, and it ensures you\u2019ll be notified about the final countdown. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.<\/em><\/h6>Item 1: All Four Signatures on a 1963 Parlophone Promo Card<\/h2>
Current bid: $4,025.00 | View on eBay<\/a><\/strong><\/p>![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/73314c86-661f-4444-9956-012430fc5937_973x719.jpeg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>March 1963. The Beatles have just released Please Please Me<\/em>. Beatlemania is weeks away from becoming a word that newspapers will need. Someone at Parlophone Records is handing out promotional photo cards, and somewhere in that brief window\u2014while the band is still accessible enough to sign things for people who simply ask\u2014all four Beatles put their signatures on the reverse of one of these cards. 📸<\/p>What makes this particular item compelling beyond the obvious is the detail. Four different pens. Four different shades of blue. Paul in dark blue fountain pen. John in lighter blue fountain pen. George in blue ballpoint. Ringo in darker ballpoint. These are not assembly-line signatures knocked out on a production line\u2014these are four young men from Liverpool who had not yet become untouchable, signing in their own individual hands with whatever they had in their pockets that day.<\/p>![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/fcec84de-f22c-45d0-ada4-daf7f0640786_5733x3089.png?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>The card itself is 5\u00be\u201d x 3\u215d\u201d\u2014small enough to hold in one hand\u2014graded VG++++ with light handling and no fade. It comes with two certificates of authenticity, including one from Frank Caiazzo, widely regarded as the world\u2019s leading Beatles autograph expert. Early 1963 all-four signatures don\u2019t surface often<\/strong>, and when they do, the condition on this one is exceptional.<\/p>
Item 2: The \u201cBeattles\u201d \u2014 America\u2019s First Beatles Record, Spelled Wrong<\/h2>
Current bid: $2,551.02 | View on eBay<\/a><\/strong><\/p>![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/7c2eb27c-4163-4f99-815c-d39d938605db_5556x2023.png?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>This is one of the great stories in Beatles collecting, and it begins with a typo. 🎵<\/p>
In February 1963\u2014almost a full year before Ed Sullivan\u2014the small Chicago label Vee Jay released the Beatles\u2019 American debut single, \u201cPlease Please Me\u201d backed with \u201cAsk Me Why,\u201d catalog number VJ-498. America wasn\u2019t ready. The single sold modestly and disappeared. Capitol Records, which had the right of first refusal on Beatles product in the US, had already passed on it.<\/p>
Vee Jay was so uncertain about this unfamiliar British group that they couldn\u2019t even get the name right. On the earliest pressings of VJ-498, the label reads \u201cThe BEATTLES\u201d<\/strong>\u2014two T\u2019s. This is not a deliberate variation. This is a small American label in 1963 receiving unfamiliar product from England and not paying particularly close attention to the spelling.<\/p>This specific copy is among the rarest VJ-498 variants. Labels are Near Mint. Vinyl is Near Mint-. This is the true first American all-Beatles record<\/strong>, pressed before the country knew who they were, with a typo that the label presumably corrected as quickly as possible once anyone noticed. The combination of historical significance, rarity, and the sheer accidental charm of the misspelling makes this one of the most coveted 45rpm records in Beatles collecting. 🏆<\/p>
Item 3: A First State Butcher Cover, Still in Shrinkwrap<\/h2>
Current bid: $2,150.00 | View on eBay<\/a><\/strong><\/p>![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/30552d61-6eed-4a93-8f72-1d0bda61939e_1530x841.png?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>The butcher cover is the most notorious album artwork in Beatles history, and the story behind it deserves its own essay\u2014which Beatles Rewind<\/em> recently featured<\/a><\/strong>. But for the uninitiated: in June 1966, Capitol Records released the US compilation album Yesterday and Today<\/em> with cover art showing the Beatles in white butcher smocks, holding raw meat and dismembered baby doll parts. The image was photographer Robert Whitaker\u2019s surrealist commentary on the band\u2019s treatment as commodities. Capitol immediately recalled the album and pasted a new, inoffensive cover photo over the original. 🎭<\/p>A First State<\/strong> copy is one that was shipped and sold before the recall\u2014before anyone pasted anything over anything. The original artwork, untouched, exactly as Capitol pressed it before the phone calls started. These are genuinely rare. A First State in Near Mint condition is the kind of item that serious Beatles collectors spend years looking for.<\/p>This copy is mono<\/strong> (Capitol T-2553), Near Mint<\/strong>, pressed at the Los Angeles factory (identifiable by the \u201c6\u201d on the back cover), still in original shrinkwrap<\/strong>. Four great corners. No creases. No seam splits. The vinyl is VG++ with Near Mint labels, and the inner sleeve is present and intact. It also comes with a copy of Capitol\u2019s original recall letter\u2014the document demanding the album\u2019s return due to the controversial cover\u2014which is a remarkable piece of contextual history to include (although the letter included with this item is a photocopy).<\/p>The seller calls it \u201cthe most popular Beatles collectible of all time,\u201d and that\u2019s not an unreasonable claim. First State Butcher Covers in this condition don\u2019t appear often.<\/strong> 🌟<\/p>
Item 4: The First-Day Please Please Me<\/em> Gold Mono Pressing<\/h2>
<\/figure>March 1963. The Beatles have just released Please Please Me<\/em>. Beatlemania is weeks away from becoming a word that newspapers will need. Someone at Parlophone Records is handing out promotional photo cards, and somewhere in that brief window\u2014while the band is still accessible enough to sign things for people who simply ask\u2014all four Beatles put their signatures on the reverse of one of these cards. 📸<\/p> What makes this particular item compelling beyond the obvious is the detail. Four different pens. Four different shades of blue. Paul in dark blue fountain pen. John in lighter blue fountain pen. George in blue ballpoint. Ringo in darker ballpoint. These are not assembly-line signatures knocked out on a production line\u2014these are four young men from Liverpool who had not yet become untouchable, signing in their own individual hands with whatever they had in their pockets that day.<\/p> The card itself is 5\u00be\u201d x 3\u215d\u201d\u2014small enough to hold in one hand\u2014graded VG++++ with light handling and no fade. It comes with two certificates of authenticity, including one from Frank Caiazzo, widely regarded as the world\u2019s leading Beatles autograph expert. Early 1963 all-four signatures don\u2019t surface often<\/strong>, and when they do, the condition on this one is exceptional.<\/p> Current bid: $2,551.02 | View on eBay<\/a><\/strong><\/p> This is one of the great stories in Beatles collecting, and it begins with a typo. 🎵<\/p> In February 1963\u2014almost a full year before Ed Sullivan\u2014the small Chicago label Vee Jay released the Beatles\u2019 American debut single, \u201cPlease Please Me\u201d backed with \u201cAsk Me Why,\u201d catalog number VJ-498. America wasn\u2019t ready. The single sold modestly and disappeared. Capitol Records, which had the right of first refusal on Beatles product in the US, had already passed on it.<\/p> Vee Jay was so uncertain about this unfamiliar British group that they couldn\u2019t even get the name right. On the earliest pressings of VJ-498, the label reads \u201cThe BEATTLES\u201d<\/strong>\u2014two T\u2019s. This is not a deliberate variation. This is a small American label in 1963 receiving unfamiliar product from England and not paying particularly close attention to the spelling.<\/p> This specific copy is among the rarest VJ-498 variants. Labels are Near Mint. Vinyl is Near Mint-. This is the true first American all-Beatles record<\/strong>, pressed before the country knew who they were, with a typo that the label presumably corrected as quickly as possible once anyone noticed. The combination of historical significance, rarity, and the sheer accidental charm of the misspelling makes this one of the most coveted 45rpm records in Beatles collecting. 🏆<\/p> Current bid: $2,150.00 | View on eBay<\/a><\/strong><\/p> The butcher cover is the most notorious album artwork in Beatles history, and the story behind it deserves its own essay\u2014which Beatles Rewind<\/em> recently featured<\/a><\/strong>. But for the uninitiated: in June 1966, Capitol Records released the US compilation album Yesterday and Today<\/em> with cover art showing the Beatles in white butcher smocks, holding raw meat and dismembered baby doll parts. The image was photographer Robert Whitaker\u2019s surrealist commentary on the band\u2019s treatment as commodities. Capitol immediately recalled the album and pasted a new, inoffensive cover photo over the original. 🎭<\/p> A First State<\/strong> copy is one that was shipped and sold before the recall\u2014before anyone pasted anything over anything. The original artwork, untouched, exactly as Capitol pressed it before the phone calls started. These are genuinely rare. A First State in Near Mint condition is the kind of item that serious Beatles collectors spend years looking for.<\/p> This copy is mono<\/strong> (Capitol T-2553), Near Mint<\/strong>, pressed at the Los Angeles factory (identifiable by the \u201c6\u201d on the back cover), still in original shrinkwrap<\/strong>. Four great corners. No creases. No seam splits. The vinyl is VG++ with Near Mint labels, and the inner sleeve is present and intact. It also comes with a copy of Capitol\u2019s original recall letter\u2014the document demanding the album\u2019s return due to the controversial cover\u2014which is a remarkable piece of contextual history to include (although the letter included with this item is a photocopy).<\/p> The seller calls it \u201cthe most popular Beatles collectible of all time,\u201d and that\u2019s not an unreasonable claim. First State Butcher Covers in this condition don\u2019t appear often.<\/strong> 🌟<\/p><\/figure>Item 2: The \u201cBeattles\u201d \u2014 America\u2019s First Beatles Record, Spelled Wrong<\/h2>
<\/figure>Item 3: A First State Butcher Cover, Still in Shrinkwrap<\/h2>
<\/figure>Item 4: The First-Day Please Please Me<\/em> Gold Mono Pressing<\/h2>
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/8ca01391-d88b-44fd-ae1c-107247106d32_5418x2938.png?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/02bced6e-aec7-483e-b9f1-457a36950524_1200x300.jpeg?w=640&ssl=1\")
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