Huge Autograph Collection Sold for $72K – Including John Lennon Sketch

A huge autograph collection spanning more than seven decades has sold and it’s packed with rock-and-roll history. The unbelievably large collection was assembled by the late Dutch collector Jan van Bree. He began gathering signatures in 1957. The collection recently sold for £55,000 (roughly $72,000 USD) at auction... piece by piece.

This treasure trove contains over 7,000 autographs. Collectors found an extraordinary gem: a purple-ink self-portrait drawn by John Lennon alongside Yoko Ono during their celebrated 1969 bed-in protest. That piece alone sold for around £6,500.

The huge autograph collection also contained handwritten correspondence from Albert Einstein. Signatures from the Supremes, Black Sabbath, world leaders, and 16th-century royalty were all included. Talk about a cross-section of culture, science and rock! And that's not all.

“Without doubt the best autograph collection I have ever seen,” said Auctioneer Andrew Stowe of the auction house Auctioneum Ltd. Van Bree’s fascination began with a simple fan letter. He received a handwritten reply from Italian singer Beniamino Gigli in 1957 and went on writing to celebrities and public figures worldwide.

Underscoring the sale is the strength of memorabilia markets tied to music and cultural icons and this auction illustrates how even broader collections with rare items remain highly coveted.

It kinda sucks that Jan's lifelong collection just got broken up and a sold off. He amassed his huge autograph collection over a 67 year period only to have his family sell it off piece by piece. I'm not trying to speak poorly of the family. What do you do with 7,000 signed items? But man, what a bummer death is. In the end, your life work is most likely just stuff to be sold or even worse, tossed out.