10 expensive items of Beatles memorabilia sold at auction

Beatlemania lives on at the auction house

The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album autographed by all four band members.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)

The Fab Four may have disbanded more than 40 years ago, but if auction sales are any indication, The Beatles are more popular than ever. This week, a signed copy of The Beatles' 1967 record Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold for $290,500 at a Texas auction. Despite the jaw-dropping price, the album is hardly the first piece of Beatles history to throw bidders into a frenzy. Here, a look at the outrageous prices others have paid to own objects associated with John, Paul, George, and Ringo:

$2.23 million

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$2.1 million

Amount George Michael paid in 2009 for the Steinway Model Z piano Lennon wrote "Imagine" on

$1.07 million

Amount the painted drum skin featured on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold for in 2008

$1 million

Amount Lennon's handwritten lyrics for "All You Need is Love" fetched at auction in 2009

$567,000

Amount one deep-pocketed music fan paid in 2004 for George Harrison's Gibson SG guitar, which was used during a Revolver recording session

$154,000

Amount an anonymous telephone bidder paid in 2011 for a hand-drawn "Bed Peace" poster from John and Yoko's infamous "Bed-In"

$123,000

Amount a buyer paid for watercolors painted by an 11-year-old Lennon in 2009

$97,000

Amount a pair of Lennon's signature round glasses sold for in 2009

$31,200

Amount one devoted fan (and dentist) shelled out for John Lennon's decaying molar in 2011

Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.