Beatles' Management Contract Heads to Auction

Brian Epstein's copy of his management contract with the Beatles, a pact that proved to be worth millions, is being offered for sale in London next month.

The four-page document, signed October 1, 1962, by John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Richard Starkey — Ringo Starr's real name — carries an estimated price of $480,000. The Fame Bureau auction house said Tuesday it had scheduled the sale for September 4 at the Idea Generation Gallery.

The contract, also signed by Harold Hargreaves Harrison and James McCartney on behalf of their underage sons, gave Epstein a 25% cut of the band's earnings, provided they made more than $400 each week.

The contract was offered for sale by a northern England businessman and Beatles collector who has asked to remain anonymous.

The contract marked the moment when all the pieces were in place for a global outbreak of Beatlemania.