{"id":194564496,"date":"2026-04-27T21:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/?p=194564496"},"modified":"2026-04-27T21:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:26:07","slug":"this-week-on-ebay-beatles-rarities-worth-knowing-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/2026\/04\/27\/this-week-on-ebay-beatles-rarities-worth-knowing-about\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week on eBay: Beatles Rarities Worth Knowing About"},"content":{"rendered":"

The auction landscape this week has a particularly interesting spread\u2014a sketch that tells the story of how the most famous album cover in history almost happened on the other side of the world, a signed Please Please Me<\/em> with a provenance letter that reads like a time capsule, and a handful of items that span the full range of Beatles collecting. 🎵<\/p>\n

Paul McCartney Signed Sketch by Iain MacMillan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Current bid: $495,000.00 or Best Offer View on eBay<\/a><\/p>\n

The story behind this sketch is one of the great what-if moments in rock history. In early August 1969, the Beatles needed an album cover.<\/p>\n

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The working title was Everest<\/em>\u2014named after the cigarette brand, not the mountain\u2014and the original plan was suitably grandiose: fly the band to the Himalayas and photograph them against the world\u2019s highest peak. John Lennon, in characteristically practical fashion, declined. His alternative: walk outside the studio and photograph whatever was there.<\/p>\n

What was there was Abbey Road.<\/p>\n

On August 6th, Paul McCartney sketched out the concept\u2014four figures crossing the zebra crossing outside the studio\u2014to show photographer Iain MacMillan what he had in mind. MacMillan then climbed a stepladder in the middle of the street on August 8th while a police officer held traffic for a few minutes, and the rest is iconography. What this piece represents is the iteration that came next: MacMillan\u2019s own more detailed rendering of the famous cover, drawn just before the album\u2019s September 1969 release, which Paul then signed for the photographer in blue ink while the band was putting the finishing touches on what would prove to be their final recorded album together.<\/p>\n

The piece is PSA encapsulated and authenticated, and comes with a JSA Letter of Authenticity. At 7×9 inches (9.5×13 encapsulated), it is described as being in amazingly excellent condition for something created in 1969. The connection between the two men\u2014McCartney signing MacMillan\u2019s own artwork for a cover that McCartney himself conceived\u2014gives this piece a circularity that most Beatles memorabilia doesn\u2019t have. You\u2019re not just buying a signature. You\u2019re buying a document of how one of the most reproduced images in the history of popular music actually came to exist. 🎨<\/p>\n