Band-Signed Beatles Album Census and Price History 2016

It's been 5 years since we published our first Band-Signed Beatles Album Census.

It's time to update it!

A history of full-band-signed Beatles album prices would be hugely helpful to the marketplace as well, going back as far as we can, so let's build that, too. Not just from auctions, but reports from collectors and dealers who have sold them.

For starters, please read the 2011 Census, which had a few years of updating and other input added by collectors and dealers.

Add your research and commentary to this discussion for now, and as we get more data, we'll post two separate discussions to fine tune it. Once we feel comfortable with the information we have and what we have determined, we'll publish reports that will help collectors and dealers worldwide make better educated decisions on Beatles album sales and purchases.

These are the results of the 2011 census:

US Release Band-Signed Beatles Albums

0 “Introducing the Beatles” [Added to list on Sept. 16, 2019]

6-7 “Meet the Beatles”
2 “Help”
1 “Beatles 65”
1 “Beatles VI”
0 “Rubber Soul”
2 “Revolver”
0 “Magical Mystery Tour”
0 “Abbey Road” +1 offered by Autographs for Sale on eBay starting Mar. 16, 2019
0 “Yellow Submarine”
1 “White Album” +1 sold by Tracks in Nov/Dec 2013 for $186,000; +1 more signed for the same person who got the other 2 signed (added 3/13/19)
1 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
0 “Let it Be”

17 US Albums Known 

UK Release Band-Signed Beatles Albums
Roughly 75 “Please Please Me” (Their first album, signed in three 1963 UK promotional tours)
16-21 “With the Beatles” (The tail end of their easier accessibility) [Editor's Note: 1 since April 2011 added.]
8-10 “Hard Day’s Night”
3 “Beatles for Sale”
2 “Help”
1 “Rubber Soul” +1
1 “Revolver”
5 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” +1 sold by Bonhams on June 30, 2016
0 “Magical Mystery Tour” (All reissues from the 1980s and up.)
0 “White Album”+1 UK (sold to collector in the US)
0 “Yellow Submarine”
2 “Abbey Road”
0 “Let it Be”

Roughly 113-120 UK Albums Known (38-45 plus roughly 75 “Please Please Me” albums)

Let's do it!

Tags: beatles album, census, history, price

Views: 15413

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 18, 2019 at 6:23am

Bertrand,

Can you post a link to the listing please?

Permalink Reply by Bertrand on November 18, 2019 at 6:59am
Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 18, 2019 at 10:36am

These are the images:

Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on November 18, 2019 at 2:44pm

That is why the price was as low as it was. Paul's signature was almost gone, as was the bottom of Ringo's and part of George's.  In most cases restoration seems to reduce, not increase, values.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 18, 2019 at 3:10pm

It also has a hole on right edge and creases. I think that it wouldn't bring more than the mid-teens the way it was, and likely less. Restoring the autographs made it desirable to those who are not serious collectors, and there are lots of those.

Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on November 18, 2019 at 9:22pm

On the plus side, you could say that the most valuable single autographs (Lennon and Harrison) were OK prior to restoration. I would have thought that an LP signed by Lennon on his own must be getting on for $10k these days and his autograph was already nigh on perfect here.

Are we sure that fading was the problem rather than skipping? Seems odd that Lennon did not fade and that the fading was so irregular as a whole. Personally I could live with pen indentations being filled in more than with fading being corrected. 

With all the above said, I wouldn't have bought this item unless it was going for some ridiculously low figure.

Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on November 19, 2019 at 10:23am

I'm not sure what the difference would be between filling in skipping and restoring fading.  In either case it's restoration.  In both cases, the signatures would have been there, but with fading, they would have initially been complete, as opposed to skipping, where presumably, part of them would have been incomplete.  So, I would almost feel the other way, as repairing fading would just be redoing the existing signatures, where correcting skipping could involve creating new material for lack of a better term.

Permalink Reply by ParkersBand on November 19, 2019 at 2:18am

Im very interested to hear your comments because I followed this auction and was also perplexed as to why the price was so low.

Clearly the signatures must remain unrestored to achieve higher bids and interest.

Permalink Reply by Bertrand on November 19, 2019 at 5:31am

Due to the fading, or more probably skipping, of the ink on three signatures, I am not sure that that item would have achieved an higher bid without restoration. I wonder what was the price when Tracks sold it in 2007...

Permalink Reply by Mark Saunders on November 19, 2019 at 11:16am

I was planning on going all in on this album until I saw the restoration. Quite honestly I’m surprised it sold. 

Permalink Reply by Bertrand on November 19, 2019 at 12:19pm

Actually, this was the contrary for me: I considered bidding on this album when I saw the restoration... Because I knew it would impact the price and that it could go for half of the price of an album without restoration. That would have been a way to afford a "fully signed album" other than the most common PPM. But, despite the price - that remained quite low as expected - I eventually became reluctant to purchase a restored item without having discussed it before with other collectors on this forum. And it seems that I was right as there seems clearly to be a lack of interest due to the restoration.

Permalink Reply by fab432 on November 19, 2019 at 3:49pm

It’s interesting to see how much restoration was done.  With Paul’s signature almost gone and Ringo’s in not much better condition I think the price realized was quite high. For me the restoration brings the value way down well below $20,000.  I would not be surprised to see this Lp being sold in the future with no mention of the restoration and the sale price going considerably higher.

RSS

© 2024   Created by Steve Cyrkin, Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service