Signed Beatles photo and Sex Pistols lyrics sell for more than £130,000

A signed Beatles photograph and a sheet of handwritten lyrics by Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon have sold at auction for more £65,000 each.

The signed picture of the Fab Four on-stage, which was for their 1964 Australian tour promoter, had an estimate of 40,000 dollars (£31,922), but it exceeded expectations by selling for 83,278 dollars (£66,462).

RR Auction’s Marvels of Modern Music sale also saw the sheet of original working lyrics by Lydon, known as Johnny Rotten, go under the hammer for 82,638 dollars (£65,952) after an estimate of 80,000 dollars (£63,844).

John Lydon’s lyrics for Holidays In The Sun (RR Auction/PA)

The sheet featured early drafts of Holidays In The Sun and Submission, two of the Sex Pistols’ songs from their hit 1977 debut album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols.

They sheet was previously exhibited at Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame between 1996 to 2000, and was shown at London’s Hospital Exhibition in 2004 and Manchester’s Urbis exhibition.

The manuscript includes a certificate of authenticity from punk historian Jon Savage.

Executive vice president at RR Auction Bobby Livingston said: “The music auction marketplace is currently very strong, and this sale proves the enduring power of the Sex Pistols and the cultural revolution they ignited.

“Blue-chip punk items are being purchased by collectors whose lives were transformed by the power of this music.”

First pressing of the Beatles’ debut single, signed the day after its release (RR Auction/PA)

The auction achieved a total of 1,132,981 dollars (£904,178) with several other notable items including a signed Beatles Magical Mystery Tour EP, which sold for 37,500 dollars (£31,170).

Another signed photo of the British rock band from around mid-1963 went for 26,575 dollars (£21,208), while a first pressing of the Beatles’ debut single Love Me Do and PS I Love You, signed the day after its release, went for 24,079 dollars (£19,216).