Cards containing photographs of The Beatles which were made by NEMS Enterprises, Parlophone Records or The Beatles themselves were often signed by the four members of the group and given away in small quantities. Now they are extremely rare and very desirable, as few have actually survived intact. The earliest promotional photocards were issued when Pete Best was still in the band. Needless to say, there are very few in existence as he was only with the group for a short while afterwards. In October of 1962, when The Beatles released their first single "Love Me Do", their new record company, Parlophone Records produced a small quantity of promotional photocards in 2 formats - a horizontal and a vertical, both with pictures being shot by Dezo Hoffman while The Beatles were in the studio. Almost all of these cards were signed on the reverse, because there was very little light area on the front of the cards for their signatures. Parlophone's second and final issue card was introduced in March of 1963 and came in two sizes: 5 3/4" X 3 5/8" and 7 1/2" X 5 1/2". Both cards lent themselves to being signed on the front, next to the photo of The Beatles because there was more light area to the right of their photo. In September of 1963, The Official Beatles Fan Club produced a new photocard which contained one of the classic Dezo Hoffmann "seated collarless suit poses" from their July photo session. The vast majority of these cards were signed by the fan club secretaries and sent through the mail to members. The Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall signed a good number of these cards while the band was on tour in late 1963 and throughout 1964. However, some cards have turned up which have been authentically signed by John, Paul George and Ringo - but they are quite rare. That was the last promo card issued, aside from the first name only autopen signed cards that were sent out by the fan club through 1967. These do turn up and the owners often mistake them for being actually signed by The Beatles, when in fact they were signed by a machine. The first name only signatures are the biggest give away here, as The Beatles almost never signed first name only - especially for autograph seeking fans. Signed promotional photocards are indeed rare and desirable and are certainly appreciating nicely, as are all authentic signed Beatles pieces.


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