Said to be the only album released by The Beatles that Capitol Records lost money on, the infamous cover for Yesterday and Today depicts the Fab Four dressed up in butchers aprons and adorned with bits of raw meat and decapitated baby dolls. Intended as an act of protest against the Vietnam War, the album cover didn’t go down too well in the United States at the time, and was soon pulled from shelves, making it one of the most desirable LPs for Beatles fans.
SOLD for £179,200! A Yesterday and Today album (1966) a U.S. First State Butcher, owned and signed by John Lennon with original artwork and addtl signatures! Sold today in our Music Icons: The Beatles auction! https://t.co/ahsXX38A8G #TheBeatles #Memorabilia #Auction #JohnLennon pic.twitter.com/Ujz8CIYDKy
— Juliens Auctions (@JuliensAuctions) May 9, 2019
Lennon’s own copy of the record, which also features the signatures of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, was sold yesterday at auction to an anonymous collector from the US for a whopping £180,000. Julien’s Auctions, who hosted the bidding, claim that the sale is “a world record for a Beatles butcher cover and the third-highest price paid for a vinyl,” as well as forecasting the record to be worth over £385,000 (AUD $714,465) in five years time.
Dive into our retrospective feature of The Beatles’ White Album.
