Rare version of Beatles album finally sells for £12,000

The signed album had been expected to fetch £15,000 at the Worthing auction

A rare copy of a Beatles LP signed by all four band members has finally been sold - for the sum rejected at auction in Sussex a few weeks earlier.

Chris Collins, from Eastbourne, and his sister, Liz Chambers, from Worthing, initially turned down a £12,000 bid for a copy of the album, Please Please Me.

They had hoped to get £15,000 for the LP, which was given to their late father during a drinking session.

But the siblings have now accepted £12,000 from private buyers.

The album was signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr after they used it as a drinks coaster during a card game in 1963.

Kept in drawer

Mr Collins had played it repeatedly until an expert revealed that because of its provenance - and the fact that it had the rarer black-and-gold label - it was worth a substantial amount.

The album went into Mr Collins's sock drawer until they finally put it up for sale, at Campbell's auction house in Worthing, just before Christmas.

It was withdrawn from sale after failing to reach its £15,000 reserve price, but auctioneer Paul Campbell said: "The record has now sold for a hammer price of £12,000, to a private buyer."

He said the vendors had decided to cut their losses and accept £12,000 following renewed interest from a Dutch Beatles enthusiast living in Worthing and his father.

The auction house even slashed its commission to enable the sale to go through.

"The sale came just too soon for these buyers, but they came back immediately after the sale and said they would have it," Mr Campbell added.

Please Please Me was The Beatles' first album, released in March 1963.

The earliest copies had black and gold labels and are more valuable than the subsequent versions, featuring black and yellow ones.