Ann's Beatles LP goes under the Maxwell Silver Hammer
A Beatles fan from Wansford who won a signed copy of the group's hit second album 46 years ago is to auction the record to pay for a revamp of her bathroom.
A Beatles fan from Wansford who won a signed copy of the group's hit second album 46 years ago is to auction the record to pay for a revamp of her bathroom.Ann Bradshaw (60), from Wansford, near Peterborough, expects the With The Beatles LP to fetch 1,800 when it goes under the hammer next month.
At just 14-years-old Ann Bradshaw, like most teenagers, was hit by Beatlemania and could not resist entering a competition in The Evening Telegraph, in the hope of being the rare owner of a signed copy of the album called With The Beatles.
After writing in and correctly answering three Beatle-themed questions, Ann didn't think she had a chance of being picked as the winner, until a man turned up at her door with the prized album, complete with signatures from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
But 46 years on, the album, which was released on November 22, 1963, the same day American President John F Kennedy was assassinated, is now collecting dust sitting in a pile of records in her living room.
So Ann has decided to part with the album after hearing it would fetch a sizeable sum, in order to buy herself a new bathroom suite.
She said: "I thought The Beatles were amazing, I loved their songs and had even been lucky enough to see them live one year.
"The Beatles were just the best, I don't think there was anyone who didn't like them. I also had a bit of a crush on Paul McCartney.
"When a man turned up at my door and said I had won, I was absolutely delighted.
"But then I watched Flog It on BBC Two and saw a lady sell a piece of paper with their names signed on it for about 2,500, and thought that sort of money could pay for my new bathroom."
Ann contacted Batemans Auctioneers and Valuers, in Stamford, who valued the album and put a reserve price of 1,800 on it.
She added: "Although I still like The Beatles and I was very lucky to own it, I have had it 46 years now and a new bathroom means more to me."
Partner at Batemans Kate Bateman said: "The album is certainly a collectable item. Although Beatles memorabilia is not that rare, this item is particularly interesting because it features all four signatures on one piece of paper, and because Ann won the album through a competition, we know that all of the signatures are real.
"It has got a hefty reserve on it, but we know that it will attract a lot of attention, especially when it goes online and is seen by international Beatles' fans and collectors.
"On the day of the auction we will be joined by BBC 2's Flog It, so there may even be a chance that Ann appears on television."
The album will go on sale at Batemans, in Ryhall Road, Stamford, on October 3, at 10.30am. For more information, call 01780 766466, or e-mail info@batemans-auctions.co.uk.
Factfile: The Beatles in Peterborough
FACTFILE Beatles sales
More than 800,000 was raised by the first international auction of Beatles memorabilia as Japanese bidders pushed prices for mementoes of the Fab Four to new heights in 1997.
A Sergeant Pepper souvenir poster signed by The Beatles fetched $52,500 in a pop memorabilia auction at Christie's in New York last June.
A rare 1962 concert poster advertising a Beatles concert fetched 11,750 at an auction of pop memorabilia at Christie's in London six years ago.
The handwritten lyrics of A Day in the Life sold at auction in New York for 1.3 million in 2008.
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