Beatles Records & Letter, 1970

Appraised on: June 9, 2012

Appraised in: Boston, Massachusetts

Appraised by: Simeon Lipman

Category: Sports Memorabilia

Episode Info: Boston (#1705)

Originally Aired: February 4, 2013

IMAGE: 1 of 9  

Appraisal Video: (2:41)

GUEST: In the late '60s, my dad headed up Capitol Records during a time when the Beatles were their major act. It's also the time when the Beatles were starting a new record label called Apple Records. I have some memorabilia from that era.

APPRAISER: Here is your father...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...Paul, and who's this guy?

GUEST: Yeah, that would be me, yeah.

APPRAISER: And what's great about this photograph as well is it's actually signed by Paul. And it says, "Love from the Cincinnati district." So he's making a little joke about his jacket. Just great. So what are these four here?

GUEST: Well, this was from a box set that my dad brought home, I think advertising the release of Apple Records. So it was a promotional set.
It used to come in this really nice plastic box that contained these four different folders. But the box has since... I have all the pieces, but they're in shards now. Each of these have these unopened... I don't know if they're 33s or 45s, and they look like they've got hand-penned descriptions of "Hey Jude" and the various artists. Mary Hopkins, I think she recorded "Those Were the Days, My Friend."

APPRAISER: What's pretty fascinating about this, the cover of the box here, it's to your father.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: "Our first four." They had a very close relationship obviously with your father. Here's a great photo of them with your dad. These four records represent the very first release of Apple. We have this side-- "Revolution," the Beatles-- the other side, "Hey Jude," the Beatles, and it's hand-written, as are all of these. Pretty amazing stuff, and obviously custom-made. Also, you have this wonderful letter here, which is basically a thank you for the gifts that your father sent to them. And it's dated January 21, 1970. And what's pretty amazing about that is that literally three and a half months later, the Beatles are no more. And at this point in their collective life, it's pretty contentious. They're really not talking to each other much. And none of us here had ever seen something signed by all four of them dated 1970. It's incredibly rare. Stuff like this is quite unique, and it's colorful, it's in beautiful condition. Unfortunately, the box has been destroyed, but the records are pristine. And we think that an insurance value for something like this, the collection, about $60,000.

GUEST: Excuse me?

APPRAISER: $60,000.

GUEST: Holy mackerel.