A RARE 1963 Beatles poster advertising their show in Llandudno has sold for £28,000.

During the antiques and fine art sale at Rogers Jones and Co, auctioneers in Colwyn Bay, on Tuesday, May 23, Lot 367 raised more than three times its estimate of £8,000 to 10,000.

The August 12, 1963, bill poster for the Odeon, Llandudno, which included the Beatles as headline act and also listed a supporting bill made up of Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas, The Lana Sisters, Billy Baxter, Tommy Wallis and Beryl, Tommy Quickly, Gary and Lee and Sons of the Piltdown Men.

The poster was eventually snapped up by a lucky mystery bidder in San Francisco.
Auctioneer David Roger Jones said: “We were thinking we’d get around 10 to 15 thousand pounds but someone had gone behind our back and offered £10,000.

“I started bidding at £10,000 and we had four telephone bidders from this country and abroad.

It eventually sold to a person in San Francisco.

“We have had posters in the auction before but they’ve never gone for nowhere near this sort of money.”

The item had come directly from the auction house's client, the famous folk singer Mary Hopkin, who was one of the first signatures to The Beatles’ Apple label.

The iconic poster was printed in three colours by the Electric Printing Company Limited in Manchester.

Mr Jones added: “A local lady was a programme seller at the Beatles concert in Llandudno.

“She had a programme and took it into The Beatles’ dressing room and they signed it.

“Unfortunately her friend chucked hers away! 

“But this will be coming up in the auction in a months time and it’s a nice follow up.”