Ultimate Beatles Memorabilia from Ringo's Ruffled Shirts to George's Prized Guitar

Many of the lots in this sale come from the previously unknown private collection of Alan Herring, acquired during his time working for The Beatles. Alan was part of the band’s inner circle from 1967 until the band’s disintegration in late 1969. Along with a small number of other trusted intimates, most, like The Beatles themselves, young working-class men, he lived alongside the band members and shared their extraordinary daily lives.

Herring first came to work as a landscape contractor for George Harrison, but George took a liking to “Alan Herringbone” (as he called him) and soon took him on as a chauffeur – the two men shared a love of fast cars – and personal assistant. When George went to India in February 1968 it wasn’t clear when, if ever, he would return, so the Beatles’s office suggested Alan interview to work for Ringo. He met Ringo at Sunny Heights, the Starkey family’s home in Weybridge, one Friday and started work for him the next Monday. He remained working for Ringo until November 1969.

Throughout this period he attended recording sessions and events – he can be seen alongside the band in photos taken at the time of the Abbey Road cover shoot. He also travelled with Ringo, got to know Peter Sellers when he starred alongside Ringo in The Magic Christian, and witnessed the tumults of the band’s break-up.

Herring has treasured his extraordinary relics of his time with The Beatles for fifty years, and these items have never been seen in public before: “The memories I have of this very special time in my life working with the Beatles are far more important to me than the things I kept which are associated with them. For my family’s sake, it makes sense for me to say goodbye to my collection now while I can still tell all the stories behind everything. It has been an emotional journey for me getting to this point, but having kept all these things with me for the last fifty years, I now feel the time is right for me to part with them.”

George Harrison gave this guitar to Alan Herring in the summer of 1969, when teaching him how to play ‘Here Comes The Sun’. ‘Blondie’ – Harrison’s name for this guitar – had been acquired for home use almost certainly in a moment of nostalgia for his early days in The Quarrymen; it is almost identical to the Hofner Club 40 which had been the teenage Harrison’s prized possession when he first played with Lennon and McCartney.

Alan Herring took to strumming ‘Blondie’ while waiting at the studio during the Beatles recording sessions for Abbey Road: “One night I was playing in the kitchen at the studios when George came in with Mal Evans. George took the guitar from me and started to play the Simon and Garfunkel song 'Mrs Robinson' delightfully substituting his nickname for me 'Alan Herringbone' for that of Mrs Robinson. This was a very special moment for me".

A star lot in the sale is Brian Epstein's copy of a unique version of the Decca audition tape. The Beatles' commercial test for Decca was a one of the first fruits of Brian Epstein's management and a huge opportunity for the young band. The recording took place on New Year’s Day, 1962 at the Decca recording studio on Broadhurst Gardens in the London suburb of West Hampstead. Paul took the lead on the vocals, singing seven tracks, with four apiece sung by John and George. The 15 songs were spliced to give them clean beginnings and endings, and prepared for review by the Decca management, probably with the expectation that tracks from the session could be the Beatles's first single releases.

The band returned to Liverpool believing that they were about to secure a recording contract with Decca. The contract never came and Decca will forever be the label that turned down The Beatles. Epstein was deeply disappointed but walked away from his dealings with Decca with this precious copy of his band in a professional studio.

The Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn has confirmed that this version of the Decca recording is unique: "The ending of 'Three Cool Cats' is a single bass note longer than any version we've had before. The song 'September in the Rain' is four seconds longer than any of the circulated versions, as it includes a vocal line which is always edited out. These tiny differences do mark out the tape as original to Brian Epstein."

Lot 18 in the sale includes a group of six daily call sheets for The Magic Christian. The film follows an eccentric billionaire, played by Peter Sellers, who adopts a homeless orphan, played by Ringo Starr. The duo then proceed to bribe anyone and buy anything for their own amusement. The call sheets included in this lot include filming at "Sotheby's Auction Room".

Sellers and Starr both arrive at Sotheby’s before an auction and meet a young John Cleese, playing an Old Master specialist. Sellers' character offers triple the estimate for a School of Rembrandt work and once Cleese accepts the offer, proceeds to extract the sitter’s nose from the canvas with a pair of scissors. An open-mouthed Cleese is speechless as Sellers pronounces: “Splendid nose. Keep that. You can burn the rest".

One of the funniest scenes in the film takes place in an auction at Sotheby’s, as the pair proceed to bid on the Victorian painting “Dignity and Impudence” by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. In contrast to subtle signals of the bidders, Sellers and Starr bid using harmonica, bee gun, extendable hand, air horn and megaphone, ultimately ending up as the underbidders.

The Beatles and Sotheby’s history further intertwine with Aeolian Hall. After the destruction of their studios during the war, the BBC took over Aeolian Hall for the recording and broadcasting of recitals and concerts. On 10 July 1963, the Beatles recorded “Taste of Honey” in the hall for a broadcast of Pop Goes the Beatles, which later aired on 23 July 1963.

All lots from The Beatles sale will be on view in Aeolian Hall until 10 December.