Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling obtained four classic Beatle autographs on the memorable night of August 27, 1965 when the Fab Four visited Elvis. He is auctioning this unique rarity of the autographs of all four Beatles on a 5" x 8" piece of Elvis Presley stationery dated 8/27/65. Bidding estimates are $50,000 and up.
Fans of both the Beatles and Elvis now have a chance to bid on this extraordinary artefact in Heritage Auction Galleries' upcoming Music and Entertainment Signature Auction, to be held at the company's Dallas, Texas headquarters on April 5, 2008.
"It was August 27, 1965. The Beatles were on the eve of playing Balboa Stadium in San Diego. Elvis was in the midst of shooting Paradise Hawaiian Style in Hollywood. That night, between 10 and 11 pm, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all arrived in limousines at Elvis' home in Bel Air, and Elvis personally greeted them at the door for what forever after became known as the "summit meeting" of Pop music and Rock and Roll."The autographs are sharp and clean in blue ink, the word 'Elvis' is pre-printed in the upper left corner, and the dynamic of the signatures of the 'Fab Four' on the stationery of 'The King' is - for lack of a better word - magical," said Doug Norwine, Director of Music and Entertainment Auctions for Heritage.
Accompanying the lot are copies of Disc Weekly (Sept 4, 1965) and The National Blast Weekly (Oct 10, 1965), both with the front page headlines "Beatles Meet Elvis!" Also included is a certificate of authenticity from renowned Beatles autograph expert Frank Caiazzo.
"This is the most significant documentation of that historic convergence ever to be offered," said Norwine. "It's a cliché, but if only this item could talk, what stories it might tell!"
Beatles' Autographs On Elvis Stationary Up For Auction
March 12, 2008 | Other
Jerome wrote on
March 12, 2008
I'd rather wait for Schilling's second auction; Lennon's bubblegum he spit out that night. It's also enrolled in Elvis paper so I've heard..
My boy, my boy wrote on
March 13, 2008
I still can't believe that no pictures have ever been taken at this metting...especially that both Colonel and Brian Epstein made the arrangements for them to gather up. It would have been the least they could do to make sure to immortalize on a photograph this single moment !
SendToTodd wrote on
March 13, 2008
Great to own, and obviously genuine, but there's something very strange about the date "8/27/65" No Brit writes the date like this we would put 27/8/65
Tiger-man-GB wrote on
March 13, 2008
It would only be strange if it was claimed that the Beatles wrote the date themselves, however if Jerry Shilling wrote it it would be perfectly natural as it's the American way for writing the date.
Lefty wrote on
March 13, 2008
I wonder why Schilling is putting this up for auction? Does he need the money? If so, that's very sad. As mypoint stated, this should be on display at Graceland. Don't tell me Sillerman couldn't cough up 50K out of his pocket change! Or five times that amount, easily. Anyway, a Beatles collector will be thrilled to have this one, I'm sure. As auctions go, this one is decent. When I read some of the trash Ginger put up for auction, it only confirmed how someone like her could've sold her story to the National Enquirer the day after Elvis died.
Steve V wrote on
March 13, 2008
This is history and should be at Graceland. The worlds 2 biggest icons ever and this may be all we have of that historic meeting. Put it under glass!
Mark wrote on
March 13, 2008
Americans always do it: Month/Day/Year. To me the other way: Day/Month/Year is odd. Like when i do my birthday i do it 1/8/1964
Paul Reno wrote on
March 13, 2008
It would be great if Graceland acquired this once in a lifetime item. You can see the date was written in a different pen than the autographs. It must have been written later.
Bestoftherest8301 wrote on
March 13, 2008
As an Elvis fan I really don't want a post-it note with Beatles signatures. It's of no interest to me whatsoever. Now, if it was a note to Priscilla saying he was going to be late home because he was having dinner with Ann Margaret.. well....that might be worth having. On the date format (and I don't want to cause a political row with our US cousins and friends), but... when you ask someone for 'today's date' you usually want to know what day of the month you are in, hence the day is given first in the UK. It's strange that in the US you have to be told what month you are in first. Historical documents for hundreds of years (in British history anyway) have always been written as DD/MM/YY. Curiously, in the US, if you ask someone the time, do they say Friday, 3.30? OK, I'm now being silly! But, do we really care.. probably not, there are more important things in life. I'm sure there must be somewhere in the world where you have to tell them the year first.
Lefty wrote on
March 14, 2008
Who would've ever thought that how to format a date would be a topic of discussion on an Elvis website? I'm an American, so you can guess my preference, but so what? It doesn't matter. But since we're here, I'll throw this into the mix. The US Military formats the date just like our friends in the UK and the rest of the world. The way the date is formatted on the auction item is referred to as the "civilian" way to format a date. Just a bit of useless trivia. The real question is, are the signatures legitimate! Of course they are. That makes this item particularly rare and valuable. If EPE doesn't buy it, maybe Hard Rock Cafe or the Rock N Roll Museum will pick it up. I just hope some "super collector" doesn't buy it and stow it away somewhere, never to be seen. And to all my friends around the world, I love you, whether you drive on the left or drive on the right or whatever!!
Kenneth wrote on
March 15, 2008
Something is wrong here, ELVIS greeting them at the door? i have never heard this story being told this way and i listen to ELVIS radio all the time including interviews of different people who were there at the time of this meeting and i just can't see SILLERMAN? letting something this valueable go. something not right in this. my opinion but i know what i've heard and read.
stu wrote on
March 15, 2008
Wonder why Elvis wasn't asked to sign it too? Without his signature on, it would be worthless to me- not a Beatles fan- but with his on it would surely be priceless! Someone screwed up big time with that.