Julien’s Auctions, the world record-breaking auction house to the stars, held its marquee Beatlemania auction event of the year, ALL BEATLES, today Friday, April 10 on the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four’s historic breakup live online at Julienslive.com.
Over 250 Beatles items featuring some never-before-seen memorabilia, guitars and instruments, autographed items, rare vinyl, obscure licensed material and other rare and collectible artifacts were sold in an online live streaming setting.
The top-selling item was Paul McCartney‘s handwritten lyrics to the 1968 Beatles’ classic “Hey Jude”, used in studio for its recording at Trident Studios, London in July 1968 which sold for an astounding $910,000 well over its original estimate of $160,000. Another top seller was a vintage Ludwig brand bass drumhead bearing The Beatles logo used at the Cow Palace Arena in San Francisco on August 19, 1964, sold for $200,000, four times over its original estimate of $50,000. It was the opening concert of The Beatles‘ first North American tour. Following the concert, the backup kit was returned and the skin bearing The Beatles logo was removed and later gifted to Coast Wholesale VIP client Ken “Kenny” Williams, owner of the San Francisco store Drum Land, where it was then displayed on the store wall for three decades.
The formerly announced public live event shifted to a live online auction with an auctioneer conducting the sale in streaming video in front of a global audience of registered bidders and fans live streaming the event from their homes, all while tracking bids coming in online and via phone using the latest technology to call the action. In keeping with the social distancing guidelines and safety measures put in place by the government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Julien’s Auctions staff accepted digital real-time bids via phone and online from remote locations.