Beatles albums signed by John, Paul, George and Ringo are among the most valuable and desirable Rock ’n’ Roll collectibles. Only about 125 are known; most being their first album, “Please Please Me.” But how many signed Beatles albums really exist? Autograph Magazine wants to find out.
Announcing Autograph Magazine’s Signed Beatles Album Census. Our goal is to locate and track every Beatles album signed by the Fab Four, in order to preserve our musical heritage and protect collectors against forgeries. If you have an album signed by the Beatles, I encourage you to have yours counted. It’s free.
Genuine Beatles-Signed Abbey Road Album, UK Release. It was signed for "Apple Scruff" Cathy Sarver.
And if you have a Beatles album signed by all four band members, you’ve got something quite valuable. Albums in good condition typically range from about $15,000 for the most common one, “Please Please Me,” to well over $100,000 for some of the rarest albums, especially U.S. releases.
Most Beatles Albums Are Extremely Rare or Unknown Signed
You wouldn’t know it by the hundreds of albums offered online and in some memorabilia galleries, but band-signed Beatles albums are very hard to come by. Many are currently unknown, or there are only one or two examples. Some are “secretarials,” where some or all of the autographs were signed in the Beatles’ names by their management, staff…and occasionally one of the Beatles signing for others. But most are outright forgeries offered by sellers that prey on the unwary. They often come with certificates of authenticity from dubious authenticators and forensic document examiners.
Rule of Thumb: Only “Please Please Me” commonly sells for under $30,000 signed, and the occasional “With The Beatles.” Any other undamaged band-signed Beatles album priced in that range should be looked at with extreme caution.
How rare are genuine signed Beatles albums? These are Autograph’s estimates of the counts of signed Beatles albums that are accepted as genuine by the legitimate autograph community:
US Release Band-Signed Beatles Albums
4-5 “Meet the Beatles”
2 “Help”
1 “Beatles 65”
1 “Beatles VI”
0 “Rubber Soul”
2 “Revolver”
0 “Magical Mystery Tour”
0 “Abbey Road”
0 “Yellow Submarine”
1 “White Album”
1 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
0 “Let it Be”
12-13 Known
UK Release Band-Signed Beatles Albums
Roughly 75 “Please Please Me” (Their first album, signed in three 1963 UK promotional tours)
15-20 “With the Beatles” (The tail end of their easier accessibility)
8-10 “Hard Day’s Night”
3 “Beatles for Sale”
2 “Help”
1 “Rubber Soul”
1 “Revolver”
5 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
0 “Magical Mystery Tour” (All reissues from the 1980s and up.)
0 “White Album”
0 “Yellow Submarine”
2 “Abbey Road”
0 “Let it Be”
Roughly 112-119 Known (37-44 plus roughly 75 “Please Please Me” albums)
How to Participate in the Census
- Email large images of your album showing the autographs clearly to Beatles@autographmagazine.com, along with your name, state or province, and country. Put “Beatles Census” and the title of the album in the subject line.
- Send separate emails for each album.
- In preliminary authentication, we weed out albums with signatures we believe are clearly forgeries. We want to do this without knowing how you acquired the album or who authenticated it, whenever possible. So don’t tell us or include receipts or authentication papers. If there is an authentication sticker on an unsigned side of your album, please don’t include the image of that side at this time. We may ask for its history later.
- After preliminary authentication, the images of all albums, approved or rejected, will be entered in our Beatles Signed Album Census forum for comment and discussion, without your name or the album’s history mentioned. You’re welcome to participate in any and all discussions. We’ll review all commentary in the forum before registering an album with the census.
Two Levels of Signed Beatles Album Census Registrations:
- Confirmed: For albums inspected in person by at least one of our accepted experts. This is in addition to online authentication by several of our experts.
- Online: For albums authenticated and approved online only by our experts.
Submit your images to Autograph Magazine’s Signed Beatles Album Census today!
About Steve Cyrkin
As us ordinary person, we also can be as fashionable as her, and the only thing we need is to wear round sunglasses and match our clothes very well. Oprah didn’t like the hideous glasses and to break them was the only way she could get a different pair. Dead Celebrity Halloween Costume ‘ Tribute or Parody.
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Firstly, I believe that £5,000, £15,000, £25,000 (whatever the current cost is) could be spent on really having a fantastic music collection rather than just a signed item which tells one nothing about the 50s and 60s.
A full set of Beatles’ monthlies, all the Xmas flexis, copies of all the original British 45s, EPs and LPs, the 20 best books on the group; all this could be obtained for the cost of four scrawls on an LP cover.
I’d value a copy of Mark Lewisohn’s forthcoming history of the group more highly, and I think it’s going to retail for £30.
And what damage could £25,000 do for a 50s Rock ‘n’ Roll collection?
You could get every single British pressing of the various Elvis, Gene, Buddy, Chuck etc. LPs of the 50s, and still buy a car!!!!
What would John Lennon have recommended!
These figures are ridiculously (and deliberately so) low.
From the first possible example (March 1963) to the last concert (August 1966), the group rarely spent a day apart from each other, and until the last realistic opportunity to get all four signatures (August 1971) when Lennon went to live in New York, fans (like the Apple Scruffs) would crowd around the Apple offices in Savile Row or Abbey Road to see and talk to the group…..and get their autographs.
Quite apart from the numerous signed LPs that the various immediate families and friends would have received (Paul must be sitting on a fair few), clock up the various signing sessions (4,000 fans went just to the Wimbledon one in December 1963, at a time when 2 LPs had been released) and the numerous hotel staff, theatre staff, TV and radio staff etc. etc. who would have had access to all four Beatles, and the notion that only two copies of the ‘Help’ LP, for example, are believed to exist is farcical, I’m afraid.
I know one family with a signed contract which is treated almost like a family heirloom and would never be sold, and I suspect that a huge percentage of signed sleeves have survived for this very reason, and that very few will ever see the light of day, and in this greedy age, I think that should be seen as a noble thing.
After looking at the rareandsigned website and I was pretty much floored. Dave Smith Hound was right on. Rareandsigned has numerous completely signed Beatle albums including Sgt Pepper, Hard Days Night, Please Please me and even Rubber Sole Soul…all for the bargain basement price of 4500 British Pounds. If you ask me all this seems a bit unrealistic…and NO I don’t believe that they are genuine. The above comment about them being real should be reconsidered. Anybody interested should go to this site and see for yourselves and make up your own minds. I wouldn’t buy any of these albums, ever.
This joker has about 20 signed Beatles LP’s. Bargains, each & every one! A Sergeant Pepper for only £4500! http://www.rareandsigned.com
Yeah.. and they all look legit to me.. whats your point? I believe the point of this post is about fully signed LPs by all four. Not including photos or albums with one or two signatures. Read the post before you make yourself look like an idiot on the internet.