I bought a 1961 Cavern Club membership card a while back. It was issued in April 1961 and includes the names of a number of performers, including George, John and Pete of the Beatles. Given that the Beatles were in Hamburg from Feb to July 1961, their entries cannot date from before they returned. 

The seller stated outright that the Beatles signatures were not genuine and the price was accordingly very low. I bought the card as it seemed to be a genuine card and interesting just for that. I do not know why the seller stated that the signatures were not genuine rather than just saying that she did not know either way. Perhaps she had asked someone for authentication. After buying this card I also bought a 1960 card from the same seller for a similar price. This has no performer signatures but does have quite an interesting entry from the time of the first Rory Storm gig (more on that another time). 

By the general appearance and feel of the cards and the entries in them I find it hard to believe that the signatures have been added recently to deceive. Given the date, I also think it highly unlikely that any of the Beatles signed for the others or that a fan signed. At that time I doubt many fans would have even known or cared what their signatures looked like or would have bothered to reproduce them in some sort of self-delusional act.  

I would like to start by sharing the George. I am well aware that nearly everything about this signature is atypical. The only things that give me some hope (and gave me some hope at the time of buying) are the capital G and H, the "rr" in Harrison and the way the letters have been connected. What brings me back down to earth is the general appearance of the signature (flat and stiff). the open letter "o" and the odd "s". 

As most will be well aware, there are only a handful of very early "in person" Beatles' signatures on the internet (as opposed to formal contracts and signed salary slips). I have included some fairly early ones below - maybe not as early as July 1961. I think example 3. comes closest to mine but is obviously much looser. I also believe that - in another thread - someone said this might have been signed by Lennon. Example 6. gets close to my very tight lower case lettering and the H of item 7. has a similar feel about it to mine.

The Harrison in my card is signed right on the edge of the page and runs vertically up the page, so whoever signed it had the card turned on its side. I don't know whether this could account for the very flat and tight appearance of the signature. The card is also very small of course, so it would be fiddly to handle and sign anyway.

So after all that:

a) Does anyone think that this has the remotest chance of being a real George?

b) If not, does anyone have any idea who would have signed it, when and why?

c) Does anyone have better in-person examples?

Tomorrow is the Swiss National Day and there will be lots of fireworks in the evening. I feel like I have lit the blue touch paper a day early and need to stand well back!!! Go easy on me! 

1. Cavern card 1

 2. Cavern card 2

3. Early album page 1

4. Early album page 2

5. Early set 1 

6. Early set 2

7. George and Pete (thank you Heritage)