A handwritten letter written by Paul McCartney in 1960 inviting an unnamed drummer to audition for a place in the Beatles has sold at Christie's for £34,850 (€40,834).
The document, written on August 12th, was discovered folded up in a book purchased at a car boot sale in Liverpool, birthplace of the band
It had been expected to fetch between £7,000 and £9,000 at a rock and pop memorabilia sale at Christie's in London late yesterday evening.
Shortly after the letter was written, the newly formed Beatles travelled to Hamburg to play a series of gigs as they set out on the road to superstardom.
According to online Beatles timelines, drummer Pete Best joined the Beatles on August 12th. He was thrown out of the band two years later and replaced by Ringo Starr.
The auctioneer said the letter was one of the earliest examples of the band being referred to as the Beatles.
It was also important to pop historians because it suggested McCartney was seeking an alternative to Best until the last minute and knew more about the details of the Hamburg trip than previously thought.
The top lot of the sale, fetching £97,250 was a handwritten sign reading "BED PEACE" displayed during one of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous "bed-ins" for peace in 1969.
Agencies