The Beatles Added Their Signatures to Ed Sullivan’s Wall in 1964. It Could Now Fetch Up to $1 Million.

A trove of memorabilia once owned by England’s Fab Four is up for auction.

New Jersey-based company Gotta Have Rock and Roll began taking bids for the Rock & Roll Americana Auction on August 30, with an impressive 119 items relating to the Beatles on offer, alongside pieces with ties to Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Michael Jackson.

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The highlight is one photo-matched rarity that was signed by all four Beatles in 1964. Following their first American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that year, the bandmates pinned their names on a large moveable wall that was used as a backdrop. Stagehand Jerry Gort asked them to sign it and claims that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison were the first to inscribe the piece. Ringo was last to sign, having to be picked up by the waist to leave his autograph. In addition to their names, “The Beatles were here” text and face drawings were added to the 16 by 48 inch slab. It is now expected to hammer down for between $750,000 and $1 million.

The nostalgic piece of memorabilia hung for years at the Southdowns Lounge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the auction house says. Rodney Cary, the lounge’s owner, acquired it from a young Beatles fan named Loftin Sproles in the mid-1980s. It was displayed above busts of the Beatles until Cary’s wife, Laurie, took it to Los Angeles for a Beatles exhibit where it attracted six-figure offers. In 2002, Cary decided to sell the signed wall to a buyer from New Jersey.

The coveted lot comes with a detailed letter from Jerry Gort in which he shares all the details of the signing and how the wall was nearly sent to the dump. Another letter from art director and set designer Bill Bohnert is also included. (He designed the sets for the Beatles’s first U.S. television appearance.) The wall does show signs of minor wear but it only adds to the rock ‘n’ roll vibes. It has also received five letters of authenticity, so you know it’s legit.

The historic piece is up for grabs now via the Gotta Have Rock and Roll website, with bids starting at $500,000. The Rock & Roll Americana Auction is split into two sessions that both end on September 23. Other iconic lots relating to the Beatles include John Lennon’s evening suit and Paul McCartney’s signed Hofner Bass. Godspeed, Apple Scruffs.

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