Long before they went on to completely change the landscape of music and pop culture, The Beatles were just like any other bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young band wanting to cut a record. But though their earliest recording – as a pre-Ringo Starr, pre-fame skiffle group called The Quarrymen – is the most valuable in the world, it may no longer be the rarest.
It’s a test acetate pressing of The Quarrymen – featuring a cover of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be The Day” and a McCartney song called “In Spite Of All The Danger” – valued at around £200,000 (approx. $AU 307,000) that was considered the world’s rarest, as music blogger Alan Cross points out.
But the earliest iteration of the Beatles has now been surpassed by The King himself, with a very early recording of Elvis Presley now earmarked as usurping The Quarrymen recording as the rarest in the world.
The recording is taken from the historic date of July 5th 1954 when a young Presley wandered into Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee and asked owner Sam Phillips if he could cut a record. He sang ‘That’s All Right (Mama)’ and unknowingly kickstarted the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. But the earliest iteration of the Beatles has now been surpassed by The King himself as the rarest record in the world
Though a promotional copy of the 78rpm vinyl was sold at a Dublin auction in March this year for a staggering €65,000 (approx. AU$ 95,427), as The Independent reports, but the acetate pressing used to make that promo copy – believed to be one of three in the world – would fetch even more… should it ever go to public auction.
Much like The Quarrymen recording that the earliest known recording of Elvis surpasses, the acetate pressing of ‘That’s All Right’ is in the hands of collectors that know its historic value far outstrips its monetary worth. After all, the original neolithic Beatles recording is in the hands of Sir Paul McCartney himself, who has only made a few replicas pressed only 50 or so 7” and 10” copies as Christmas presents (to recipients such as Ringo Starr and George Harrison – how sweet), as Beatles Source points out.
Speaking of Beatles rarities, Noise 11 reports that a never-before released acetate pressing for a Beatles compilation made by Capitol Records will be auctioned off next month.
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Best Of The Beatles is a two-LP, 24-track collection from 1964 but was unfortunately shelved by Capitol records when they found out that fellow label Vee-Jay did not have the appropriate rights and licensing dates to the Beatles hits featured on the recording.
The unreleased set of four acetate records will be sold off on August 9th through Heritage Auctions at an opening bid of US$ 10,000. The set includes a letter of authenticity from Clifford J. Yamasaki of Let It Be Records in San Francisco which reads:
I certify that this 2 LP acetate of ‘The Best of the Beatles’ is one of two known to exist and was purchased from a Capitol Records executive for a project that was scrapped. The project: #46934-41. The date of pressing: 6-2-64
Heritage Auctions also has a listing for the earliest pressing of The Beatles White Album going for sale on the same day, with the owner of the mythical A0000001 pressing of the record, David Mincks, auctioning off the item with an identical starting bid of $10,000. But as Alan Cross points out, expect the A0000001 pressing to go for much higher considering the White Album A0000023 sold for $13,750 in December last year.
Much like John Lennon’s former mansion that went up for sale for $23 million, you’re going to have to start planning that bank heist to the tune of ‘Baby, You’re A Rich Man’ if you plan to own your own piece of music history.
