Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to The Beatles‘ hit song Hey Jude sold for $910,000 (£732,000) on Friday, nine times its original estimate, auction house Julien’s Auctions said.
Three hundred items were on offer at Julien’s Auctions to mark the 50th anniversary of the band’s split but McCartney’s note was the biggest seller.
A vintage bass drumhead with The Beatles’ logo was another top item. It sold for $200,000 (£161,000). It was used during the English band’s first North American tour in 1964.
Before the sale, Auctions music specialist Jason Watkins had described McCartney’s hastily scribbled notes for a 1968 studio recording of Hey Jude as “very rare” and “valuable.”
He added: “These handwritten lyrics were used in the studio as a guide when they were recording it.”
Other auctioned items include a drawing by John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono called Bagism. A term they coined to satirise stereotyping, sold for $93,750, (£75,000). While an ashtray used by the Fab Four’s drummer Ringo Starr; at the Abbey Road recording studios in London fetched $32,500 (£26,000).
The wooden stage of the small Liverpool venue; where the band performed before they rocketed to fame went for $25,600 (£21,000).
“The sale had been due to take place online and at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, New York. But it was made online-only due to the coronavirus pandemic,” the auction house said.