Viewers of the BBC show Antiques Roadshow have been left shocked after a woman’s full set of signatures from The Beatles were valued on the show, insisting it is worth ‘five times more’.
One lucky punter on the show appeared after getting the signatures of not one, not two, not three, but all four of arguably the most influential band in British history.
The woman appeared on the show in 2021 and was recently uploaded to the BBC show’s YouTube channel in a video titled ‘Owner Amazed By Value Of Beatles Autographs From 1963’.
The owner took in two sets of signatures from The Beatles to be valued by appraiser Lisa Lloyd.
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Lloyd has worked in the field of antiques for over 30 years per the BBC, and was amazed by the story behind the signatures.
The woman explained how, in 1963, her mother woke her up when she was 15 to tell her that their friend’s father was doing sound checks for the band at Birmingham town hall.
She explained that Gerry and the Pacemakers, also performing that night, had suggested a water pistol fight with John Lennon, which she had joined in on.
Afterwards, she got signatures from all four on two different notebooks, but on closer analysis, Lloyd realised that one of the other band members had signed it for John Lennon.
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In addition to this, the signatures are over two pieces of paper, so it was valued at just £800-£1,200.
The second set of signatures, however, are of all four members of the band, and are all on one piece of paper.
The expert revealed that having a first-hand account to prove you’re not just a grifter who caught them outside a hotel is vital to maintaining value, as well as having all four and it being one single piece of paper.
With all that in mind, she gave the better set of signatures a minimum likely value of £2-3,000 at auction.
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While the owner appears ecstatic, saying ‘that’s amazing’, a number of commenters thinks she has been hard done by.
One commented: “They’re surely worth more than that…”
Another commented: “The price for the four signatures is too low. Minimum $15,000 US in that condition with that provenance.”
A third said: “2k for 4 Beatles signatures on one page is bugger all, should be worth at least 20k.”
A fourth agreed, saying: “That figure is well out, 20 k for all 4 on one piece of paper I think.”
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Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Topics: Antiques Roadshow, BBC, Music, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin