The first recording contract ever signed by The Beatles – during their early days in Hamburg, Germany – is expected to fetch about $150,000 (£95,750) when it goes up for auction in New York next month.
The contract, written in German and signed in 1961 by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and then-drummer Peter Best, is part of a 300 lot collection of Beatles memorabilia assembled by the late German record producer Uwe Blaschke.
Dean Harmeyer, consignment director at Heritage Auctions, called the contract perhaps the most historically important Beatles document to ever appear at auction.
The Blaschke collection includes photos, documents and autographs related to the time the band from Liverpool spent in Germany in the early 1960s before going on to conquer the world.
The 1961 contract was for a record that didnt even bear the name of The Beatles. It was for an uptempo version of the traditional German childrens song My Bonnie and was credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers because the record company felt the name Beatles was unsuitable for the German market, according to the auction house.
Without this contract, which directly led to their involvement with (manager) Brian Epstein, the Beatles may have never been able achieve their later success as a recording group. And at the time it was a momentous career milestone - theyd finally secured an actual recording deal, something they had only dreamed of before My Bonnie, Harmeyer said in a statement.
Other items for sale include an autographed copy of the groups first hit single Love Me Do, which is expected to fetch $10,000, a 1965 autographed Austrian menu and a Bjarton 12-string acoustic guitar from 1970.
A guitar played by George Harrison in 1963 sold for $485,000 in New York in May and a collection of John Lennon manuscripts and drawings for two books he wrote in the mid-1960s sold for $2.9m at a Sothebys auction in 2014.
