COLLECTOR: Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Boland and the Sex Pistols feature in a rock memorabilia auction to be held in London today.
The Sotheby's rock and post-war fashion sale includes an autographed copy of Sergeant. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), complete with insert. It is expected to fetch between €9,700 and €13,000.
A rare MS-500 Mastersound guitar, believed to have been played by George Harrison in 1963, carries an estimate of €48,000 to €65,000.
Even a humble single piece of handwritten paper, described as a John Lennon aide-memoire, 1970s, listing things that needed attention (for instance "1. TV in kitchen has no power") and various publications and other items are estimated at €950 to €1,300.
Also in the Beatles section, an autographed copy of the album Please Please Me, 1963, is expected to realise as much as €9,700 to €13,000.
Meanwhile, a "gold" sales award presented to the Beatles to commemorate the sale of more than one million copies of I Want to Hold Your Hand is estimated at €8,100 to €8,900.
George Harrison's handwritten lyrics for Piggies, 1968, on both sides of a sheet of NEMS Enterprises Ltd stationery, comes with a high price tag of €26,000 to €29,200, putting Madonna into the ha'penny place.
A sheet of her handwritten lyrics, 1984, mounted with a machine-print photograph of Madonna is estimated at €800 to €950.
Michael Jackson's handwritten lyrics for Black or White are expected to fetch €3,250 to €4,850.
One interesting item is a carbon copy of a contract for the Rolling Stones at the Rex Ballroom, Cambridge, September 30th, 1963. Dated 20th September, the form shows that the Rolling Stones agreed to appear for one performance for the princely sum of £150 sterling (€232).
The carbon copy of that contract is expected to realise €1,300 to €1,950.
A second contract, this time for the Rolling Stones' appearance at the Olympia Ballroom, Reading, dated December 19th, 1963, states that the group was to receive "75 per cent of the box office receipts with a guarantee that the artistes' share shall not be less than £100". The carbon copy is estimated at €1,300 to €1,950.
Today's auction also includes posters, mugs, T-shirts, stickers and streamers used to promote the launch, 25 years ago, of the Sex Pistols' controversial single God Save the Queen, which was re-issued two weeks ago.
Some 30 lots relate to the band, with several items consigned by Mr Brian Cooke, who was involved in producing most of Virgin Records' covers, designs and print at that time.
While the band's distinctive "ransom note" lettering was developed by the band's art director, Jamie Reid, Cooke Key Associates converted the idea into camera-ready artwork for printers. A rare set of six "God Save" posters, "Dick Turpin", "Captain Swing", "Myra Hindley", "The Cambridge Rapist", "Ronnie Biggs" and "Jack the Ripper", produced as props in the film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, 1978, is estimated at €1,600 to €2,450. A withdrawn poster proof for the same film is estimated at €800 to €950.
Marc Bolan was killed in a car crash in 1977, just before his 30th birthday. An inscribed copy of his first known recording The Road I'm On, recorded under the name Toby Tyler in 1965, is expected to make €3,250 to €4,850.
A poem by Jim Morrison, circa 1967, entitled The Anatomy of Rock is estimated at €16,200 to €19,500.
Seven Bob Dylan/Frank Zappa/Santana concert posters in Spanish from the 1970s and 1980s are valued at €500 to €650,
A harmonica used and autographed by Bob Dylan, circa 1982, with statement of provenance, is estimated at between €1,200 and €1,300.
