BEATLES' FIRST SIGNED RECORDING CONTRACT SELLS FOR MORE THAN $90K AT AUCTION

The 1961 contract was written in German and signed by the Beatles.

One Beatles’ fan picked up the Fab Four’s first ever signed recording contract Saturday for more than $90,000, a New York auction house announced.
Heritage Auctions said the 1961 contract was for a recording of a rock and roll version of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.”

The recording session occurred in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961 before Ringo Starr joined the Beatles. Drummer Pete Best signed the contract along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
“This is perhaps the most historically important Beatles document to ever appear at auction,” said Dean Harmeyer, Consignment Director at Heritage Auctions. “And at the time it was a momentous career milestone — they’d finally secured an actual recording deal, something they had only dreamed of before “My Bonnie.”
The song was released under the band name Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers, but caught the attention of Brian Epstein, who later became the band’s manager.
The six-page contract was sold by the estate of German Beatles collector Uwe Blaschke, who died in 2010.
Including a 25% buyer’s fee, the anonymous winning bidder shelled out a total of $93,750.