Hotel chef sells Beatle autographs

7:55am Wednesday 24th September 2008

A chef's autograph book signed by stars Diana Ross and The Beatles when they stayed at his hotel has sold for £3,375.

The seller also met other well-known performers and got their autographs when they stayed at the Palace Court hotel in Bournemouth in the 60s and 70s.

He served The Beatles snacks after a photo shoot by Robert Freeman on August 22 when they stayed during the summer of 1963.

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

The autograph album also includes signatures from Diana Ross and The Supremes and was expected to fetch up to £4,000 at Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset but went for just under at £3,375, including buyer's premium, to a private collector.

Another full set of Beatles' signatures scrawled on a folded piece of headed paper from the Imperial Hotel, Torquay, where the Beatles stayed in 1963, sold for £2,410, including buyer's premium.

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. Generally the collectors are willing to pay the price to secure something for their collection."

A photograph of Abraham Lincoln together with an original newspaper reporting his assassination did not sell but a manumission detailing the release of a slave in America sold for £555, including buyer's premium.

The document, dated 1817, provides details about the name of his slave, his age and the realisation that slavery is immoral.

Oswin Ricks, the master, writes about his 25-year-old slave, Moses, "... being of the opinion that it is my duty to do by others, as I would be done by, therefore I do hereby... set free the said Moses."