Beatles contract sold at auction

5 September 2008 10:52am

The first management contract between The Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein has fetched well below its estimated selling price.

The document, billed as the most important music contract of all time, fetched £240,000 - below its estimated selling price of £250,000.

It belonged to "fifth Beatle" Epstein, the businessman who helped launch the band after seeing them play at Liverpool's now famous Cavern Club.

He became their manager in 1961 but the contract was not signed by "John Winston Lennon", "George Harrison", "James Paul McCartney" and "Richard Starkey" (Ringo Starr) until January 24, 1962.

Epstein only inked his name on the document on October 1, 1962 after getting the Fab Four a deal with EMI for the release of the single Love Me Do.

He said he did not sign earlier because he wanted the band to be able to walk away if he could not deliver on his promise to get them a record deal and a No 1.

The valuable piece of music memorabilia also features the names of Harold Hargreaves Harrison and James McCartney, giving consent on behalf of their sons as they were under 21.

The auction took place at the Fame Bureau's It's More Than Rock And Roll auction at the Idea Generation Gallery in east London.

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