Rare piece of Beatles memorabilia to go up for auction in Halifax

All four Beatles have signed the photo of the group, which was taken on February 2, 1963 by freelance photographer Stanley Richardson.

The 20" by 16" photo is being sold by the family of the late Stanley, who was a freelance photographer for Melody Maker music magazine, and was also well-known in Halifax for his presidencies of the Chamber of Trade, Rotary Club, the Loyal Georgean Society, plus his association with Wainstalls School.

The picture was taken post-performance after the first of The Beatles' two evening slots as the main support act for Helen Shapiro at the Bradford Gaumont Theatre. The show was the first night of the tour, which also took in Wakefield, Doncaster and York, across a 14-date run.

Stanley was so taken with the Beatles' early evening performance that he and the Melody Maker reporter asked the boys to gather for a press photograph, which the Fab-Four were happy to pose for.

Stanley quickly returned home and processed the negatives, producing two photographs – one larger version, the one going up for auction, plus a smaller copy.

Paul, John, George and Ringo loved what Stanley had produced and each happily signed the photograph there and then. They and Brian Epstein were given the smaller print by Stanley to take away, which at that stage, was one of only a limited number of press photographs that the band and Brian, as their manager, were happy with.

Early February 1963 was an important recording and development period for The Beatles, laying down songs for their Please Please Me debut album with George Martin, as well as the title track single release, which charted at number two.

*The photograph itself has come to be one that the band and Brian Epstein used, and possibly reproduced to a degree, through 1963,” said James Watson, from Halifax Mill Auctioneers, who will be selling the item, “so as you might consider, there could well be a few fans out there that might hold another true and authentic signed version of Stan's original photograph.

"And it turns out that the BBC's Antiques Roadshow had just that, within the programme's episode on Sunday, November 9.

"We are so excited for this rare item to be going under the hammer with us on Sunday, November 23, from 12pm.

"The provenance is spot-on and having inspected the photograph in-person for authenticity, we can happily confirm that the wet signatures are as you would expect, 100 per cent.”