Gary Murphy, Allsop & Co’s residential auctioneer, will score a first when he takes part via a live satellite link in a sale of Beatles memorabilia in Tokyo on March 22.
The Penny Lane barber’s shop and the house in which Ringo Starr was born will be auctioned from Bonham’s saleroom in London’s Knightsbridge and broadcast live on the Auction Channel – the first time that it has been used for selling property.
“Shall we say it is one of the more exciting circumstances surrounding an auction,” said Murphy. “It is always nice to do something new and being a Beatles fan it is quite exciting.”
Ringo Starr’s birthplace is a terraced house in Toxteth, Liverpool. Currently boarded up, it has a guide price of around £5,000. It retains many original features, including the cupboard under the stairs where the family hid during air raids on Liverpool.
shop is where the Fab Four first had their famous mop-tops styled and is one of the stops on the daily “magical mystery tour” of Liverpool. Murphy has set the guide price at around £200,000, despite admitting that Japanese tourists often chip bits off the building to take home as souvenirs.
