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Old Beatles Signed Photo with a History

Hey there - I'm new here and wanted some advice on this pic I have.

Backstory: My father and I were ham radio operators back in the 80's and 90's and while I was looking through his old QSL cards (conversation records that ham operators mail to each other after they speak), I came across the attached photo. My dad said that when he was stationed on Guam in the 1970s, a guy from England really wanted dad's QSL card (because Guam was a bit of a rarity at the time) and so sent him this photo. My dad thought that the English guy was a manager of the beatles.

Fast forward to 2003: I decided to email the English guy (I found out his email through the internet). And this is his response (I have a hard copy print of this email as well that I printed in 2003):

BERTRAM DONN span class="marklgwpaigns">bertramdonn@msn.com>

Wed 10/29/2003 6:36 PM

Hello Chris, Yes.... I am the person who sent that photograph to your father. I was NOT
the manager of The Beatles BUT I knew them well and Ringo's auntie gave me a
number of Beatles photographs as in the 70s and 80s many radio amateurs
asked me about them because I live in Liverpool. I sent many different ones
out to 'Hams' who expressed an interest.
I am a musician and although I am now 74 years old, I am playing 3 or 4
sessions a week still. It keeps me young!
Not sure if I received a qsl from your dad... probably did but am not able
to verify unless I have the date of the qso.
Keep in touch,
Kindest regards,
Bert, G3XSN

Unfortunately, Bertram Donn passed away in 2018 while playing guitar at a local Liverpool pub. He did write in pencil on the back of the photo his and my Dads ham radio callsigns (see pic).

Please let me know if this is legit or not. The timeline and story kinda sells it, but I'm a realist when it comes to these kinds of things. If anyone needs any additional photos, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

Chris Cox

Tags: Beatles, Guam, Ringo

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PhotoFront.jpeg, 645 KB
BackofPhoto.jpeg, 545 KB

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Cushman on September 25, 2023 at 4:24am

Hey Chris...This was not signed by The Beatles. This was done using an "auto-pen machine. Between 1963 and 1968...the fan club would send out these photos to fans who asked for The Beatles autographs. Some were signed in black pen...some in blue...and some with black AND blue ink. It was always first name only.

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Permalink Reply by 0800Autocollect on September 25, 2023 at 4:29am

I thought the ttms from that era were secterials rather than autopen (could be both I suppose) If these didn't cost so much I would grab one just for the coolness of it. Mainly cos the real ones are far too expensive.

Also in my experience, the cooler the backstory, the faker the item.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Cushman on September 25, 2023 at 6:08am

The fan club sent out the "auto-pen photos...they also had someone at the fan club sign items...they had stamped examples of the fan club signatures on photos...all kinds of stuff. It wasn't done to deceive anybody...it was done to satisfy the OVERWHELMING demands for Beatles autographs. Once they became so HUGE starting in 1964...they were basically cut off from the outside world...so road manager Neil Aspinall signed hundreds if not thousands of items on behalf of The Beatles when they toured the world in 1964...1965...& 1966.