Beatles' Sgt. Pepper Auctioned for $175K

RR Auction spokesman Bobby Livingston thought that a rare Beethoven manuscript that was put out to bid would be their biggest sale on Wednesday night, but somehow The Beatles stole the show.

"Roll over Beethoven," Livingston said Thursday morning. A vintage copy of The Beatles' 1967 album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," that was signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, said for $175,698.

Beethoven's manuscript from 1820 titled "Missa Solmenis" garnered the top bid of $390,000 on Wednesday night, but Livingston said that was below what the consignor wanted. As a result, Livingston said the Beethoven manuscript will be returned to the owner. He could not say when or if it might be auctioned again.

Livingston said The Beatles' autographed copy of their classic album is a very rare find in its own right because there are only five known copies that were ever signed by the Fab Four following its release in London in June 1967.

On RR Auction's web site, Livingston said the description that accompanied the The Beatles LP speaks to it authenticity.

"Accompanied by a handwritten letter of provenance, dated 1985, from the original recipient of the signatures, an employee at the Atlantic Hotel, where the band stayed from September 12-15. His letter, written to a member of Sotheby’s auction house, reads, in part: “I got the LP signed when I met them in my home town nearly 20 years ago. I’d just left school and my friend’s mum got me a steady summer job as a porter at the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay. To my and everybody’s amazement, the Beatles stayed at the Atlantic for a few days while they were filming…"