Beatles autographs set for auction (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Beatles autographs set for auction

5:40am Wednesday 17th September 2008

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A chef's autograph book signed by stars Diana Ross and The Beatles when they stayed at his hotel is expected to fetch up to £4,000 when it goes under the hammer.

The seller also met other well-known performers and got their autographs when they stayed at the Palace Court hotel in Bournemouth in the 60s and 70s.

He served The Beatles snacks after a photo shoot by Robert Freeman on August 22 when they stayed during the summer of 1963. One of the photographs taken that day ended up immortalised as the band's cover for their album, With The Beatles.

The autograph album also includes signatures from Diana Ross and The Supremes and is expected to fetch between £2,000 to £4,000 when it goes under the hammer at Duke's in Dorchester, Dorset, on September 23.

Another full set of Beatles' signatures scrawled on a folded piece of headed paper from the Imperial Hotel, Torquay, where the Beatles stayed in 1963, is also for sale with an estimate between £2,000 to £4,000.

Amy Brenan, of Duke's, said: "This particular collecting area has really increased in popularity over the last few years from famous footballer signatures to 1960s bands and famous actors past and present, all sorts of autographs are sought after."

Other items in the sale include a photograph of Abraham Lincoln together with an original newspaper reporting his assassination, estimated at £200 to £400.

There is also a manumission detailing the release of a slave in America expected to fetch between £200 to £400.

The document, dated 1817, provides details about the name of his slave, his age and the realisation that slavery is immoral.

Oswin Ricks, the master, writes about his 25-year-old slave, Moses, "... being of the opinion that it is my duty to do by others, as I would be done by, therefore I do hereby... set free the said Moses."

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