On 10 April, Julien’s Auctions hosted their auction dedicated exclusively to The Beatles. Though the sale was originally meant to take place at The Hard Rock in New York, but had to be moved entirely online given current measures surrounding coronavirus and lockdown, it still saw incredible success – and a record number of watchers.
Paul McCartney’s studio-used handwritten ‘Hey Jude’ lyrics sold for US$910,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $160,000-180,000. The Beatles’ 1964 Cow Palace concert drumhead went for $200,000 against $50,000-75,000. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s bed-in for peace ‘Bagism’ drawing sold for $93,750 against $80,000-100,000. Ringo Starr’s Abbey Road used ashtray sold for $35,200 against $6,000-8,000. And on the list goes.
We talked to Darren Julien, President and CEO of Julien’s Auctions, to learn more about the extraordinary success of the sale.
Barnebys: Can you tell us a bit about where the lots came from or how the Beatles sale came together?
Darren Julien: We have been doing an annual Beatles auction that started in 2019 at The Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool. Based on the success of this auction, we decided to do one annually and this one was scheduled to be held at The Hard Rock in New York. For the past 15 years, Julien’s Auctions has had a relationship with The Hard Rock and has conducted our annual ‘Music Icons’ and ‘Icons & Idols: Rock “n” Roll’ auctions there.
We have so many collectors and consignors who have unique Beatles items so it’s an easy auction for us to put together. Julien’s holds nearly all the world records for Beatles items, including John Lennon’s guitar we sold for $2.4 million, Ringo Starr’s Beatles drum kit for $2.1 million and his drum skin from The Ed Sullivan Show that we also sold for $2.1 million.
In the investment world of Rock “n” Roll, The Beatles would be a blue chip investment.
Memorabilia from famous figures in history often does well at auction, but The Beatles is an entirely different story. What is it about the English band that makes their memorabilia such a stand out for collectors?
The Beatles are the most famous and most collectable band in the world. Their fan and collector base is global and of every age group. Two things that have really helped with the collectability of the Beatles over the years. One is that the market of Rock “n” Roll is now considered an investment. Hedge Funds as well as investors now look at these assets as a way to diversify their portfolios especially on the iconic items. And in the investment world of Rock “n” Roll, The Beatles would be a blue chip investment.
The second factor that has really helped this market is the power of the internet. It used to be that you’d have to travel to auctions to really participate and now, with the power of the internet, collectors, fans and investors can participate from anywhere in the world. This has also allowed us to introduce new markets to collecting, like Asia, Russia and other continents or countries who were otherwise cut off from this world prior to technology.
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The sale held up incredibly well against the current COVID-19 lockdown. As well as being digital, is there any other source you would cite for this success?
Yes, we had to move this auction to online only, but we had our auctioneer Zack Krone work out of his home so that we would be respectful of the lockdown and operate safely. The other phone bidders and bidders taking bids online were on screens, where the auctioneer could see and hear. We had very little technical issues but for a company like Julien’s it’s good to know we can adapt under any circumstances.
We noticed that, because of the COVID-19 lockdown, fans and collectors were bored and looking for something to do, so we had record numbers for the Beatles Auction as well as our auction for the Estate of Doris Day a week prior. We had the largest number of people watching than any of our auctions in the past. I think by being creative in these difficult times and not just cancelling the auction because it would be too hard to conduct helped it also be a success. As a company, we are always trying to be innovative and flexible, which is how we’ve built up our brand the past twenty years.
They really are a museum piece and a historic work of art.
The most impressive sale in the auction is undoubtedly Paul McCartney’s studio-used handwritten lyrics to Hey Jude. Are you surprised by the astronomical sum they sold for? Why do you think this particular lot managed to do so well, particularly against its original estimate?
There are several factors why I think these lyrics sold for $910,000. It was higher than I thought they would bring, but I did think they were worth double the pre-sale estimate, which is why we made it a little conservative. It’s one of the most important lyrics that Paul McCartney wrote for John and Cynthia Lennon’s son Julian (originally titled ‘Hey Jules’). McCartney wrote them out as a map for their recording session but what really made them more unique than most lyrics is that you could actually see photographs and video of these exact lyrics on Paul’s music stand. That’s extremely rare as it removes all doubt as to when they were used by McCartney. They really are a museum piece and a historic work of art.
