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Post by shirefella on Jul 24, 2013 2:01:51 GMT
Back in the 60's a close friend of my fathers was a printer. He was commisioned by The Beatles to produce personalised notepaper for each member. 60 copies for each were produced. These were a very fine, thin wood veneer bonded to paper. Each members paper was in a different colour. At the top it just had printed "From .... ...... " and a personal sign/symbol. My father was given a test print of all four but close to the time, gave them all away except for John Lennons. The guy who printed them is nowhere to be found these days so it's impossible to get a COA. I've searched high and low on the internet and cant see any record of these ever appearing for sale. I've also searched the symbol beside Johns name. Its a circle split with a horizontal line and then a smaller circle above and below the line, touching both line and the outer circle. Has anyone ever seen this in relation to John anywhere? The paper is in my posession and am thinking of selling it. Any advice/guide value would be appreciated. Phil
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ranger
I'll Be On My Way
Posts: 153
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Post by ranger on Jul 24, 2013 6:32:24 GMT
This is fascinating! However, the nature of Beatles collecting is VERY conservative and I wonder if an item like this would get the respect it really deserves, Phil. Strangely, a relatively common signed LP would probably arouse more excitement.
If all 240 sheets were sent in the 60s (unlikely), the list of co-respondents would be eye-opening (Hendrix, Dylan, Brian Jones, illicit lovers.....who knows?!). Exactly which year are we talking about here? That typeface reminds me of that used in Lennon's two books, 'In His Own Write' and 'Spaniard In The Works'.
Personally, I'd hold on to them before I had seen examples of their use (check out old Sotheby's/Christies/Bonhams catalogues dating back to about 1980) and I would also try to get as much information about their commission, making and distribution as I possibly could. If you do that, you'll definitely get a higher price if you decide to sell.
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Post by shirefella on Jul 28, 2013 14:34:33 GMT
Thanks. My father thinks his friend worked direct for Epstein and thought Epstein was a shareholder in Hille furniture. He thought the print works was attached to Hille in Watford and also produced the Apple labels both for discs and any merchandise. As to the year, it was late 60's. I've pre-listed ito on ebay to see if any browsing collectors can share any light on the symbol or have seen these appear in the past. There are some better scans there. www.ebay.com/itm/281143062107?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
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Post by ROCKY on Jul 28, 2013 16:41:28 GMT
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Post by shirefella on Jul 28, 2013 22:29:54 GMT
Rocky..Thankyou!! Looking at the second link, what I have is a piece of the Kenwood paper mentioned. However the "From John Lennon" is missing but the symbol is in the same place. If you look at the photo you can see the marks which are the grain of the timber veneer and John states in the quote that the paper was rough and a drag to write on. Obviously there must have been copies done with just Johns symbol. kenwoodlennon.blogspot.com/2009/11/kenwood-cynthia-lennon-fanclub.htmlA rare example (and possibly the only example) of Cynthia fanclub ephemera. In terms of the minutiae of Lennon-era Kenwood, this is fairly...errr, minute, but it also provides another look at the writing paper favoured there at that time. The lines evident on the copy are because the paper was rough - John called it a "drag to write on" in a letter to his father, dated spring 1968. It's also vaguely interesting that the letter includes the address - by that point, they had clearly given up on any attempts to keep the location of John's house secret.
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Post by shirefella on Jul 29, 2013 0:09:11 GMT
I found it again here but again without the "From John Lennon"
:http://kenwoodlennon.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/kenwood-symbols.html
I definitely remember as a young child seeing the other coloured pages from each Beatle. My father believes he gave one or two to my second cousin. I'll contact him on facebook and see if he still has them.
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Post by shirefella on Jul 29, 2013 0:09:34 GMT
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Post by ROCKY on Jul 29, 2013 0:30:35 GMT
On a different subject, I wonder what John wrote to his Dad? I know he wasn't getting along with him, said he kept on bugging him for money. I betcha a lot of four letter word symbols were used in that. lol
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