Beatles autographs auctioned off

The With The Beatles album cover photograph has been used on stamps

An autograph book signed by stars including The Beatles and Diana Ross when they stayed at a Dorset hotel has sold for �3,375 at auction.

The hotel chef gleaned many other autographs when famous performers stayed at the Palace Court hotel in Bournemouth in the 1960s and 1970s.

The autograph book went under the hammer at Duke's in Dorchester.

Another full set of Beatles' signatures on folded headed paper from Torquay's Imperial Hotel sold for �2,410.

The chef had served The Beatles snacks after a photo shoot by Robert Freeman on 22 August 1963 when the autograph book was signed.

Abraham Lincoln

One of the photographs taken that day ended up immortalised as the band's cover for their album, With The Beatles.

The autograph album was expected to fetch up to �4,000. It went to a private collector.

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."

A photograph of Abraham Lincoln together with an original newspaper reporting his assassination failed to sell but a manumission detailing the release of a slave in America, dated 1817, sold for �555.

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