A unique hand-painted poster advertising ‘The Beatles’ playing down at the Cavern Club has sold for nearly double the estimate at 27,000 pounds.

It was bought by a private American collector at more than double the 12,000 pounds estimate.

The poster dates from November 30, 1962, and says that the band will play two sets on a Friday lunchtime.
 
Ringo Starr had recently joined the band and the Fab Four’s first single, Love Me Do, had been released just weeks earlier.

There are only a handful of original posters that advertised The Beatles at the Cavern Club.

Since the poster didn't have the venue’s name, it is thought to have been pinned to a wall in the club itself. “This is the only known copy of this poster.

Posters from this period in the Beatles’ history are exceptionally rare and only a handful of posters documenting their appearances at the Cavern Club are known to be in existence,” quoted the auctioneer Christie’s.

The Beatles made 292 appearances at the Cavern Club from February 1961 and August 1963.

“I know these lunchtime sessions were popular because my mother used to bunk off school to go to them,” Christie’s spokesman Helen Hall said.