Original Cutout From Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Cover Up for Auction
The original cutout of Canadian child star Bobby Breen used on the cover of the Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is up for auction via online auction house Paddle8. The sale ends June 14th at 1:05 p.m. ET. The piece is expected to sell between $50,000 and $70,000.
The hand-tinted photograph is mounted to cardboard. It is signed by album artist Peter Blake on the lower right-hand corner. The cutout of Breen on the Sgt. Pepper’s cover is to the right of George Harrison and next to an image of Marlene Dietrich.
Only a handful of cutouts from the Sgt. Pepper’s cover have been sold. The image of Breen is reportedly the only piece known to have Blake’s signature. Blake and his wife Jann Haworth assembled the 57 cutouts of famous figures that surround the Beatles.
Each band member was tasked with coming up with a list of people they wanted to include in the cover’s collage, and though it’s unclear who selected Breen, the Beatles likely grew up with his films and records and related to his career as a young actor and singer.
The Breen cutout is one of several pieces Paddle8 is auctioning off to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s. The 80-lot sale also includes an Andy Warhol Beatles screen print from 1980, a rare poster from a 1963 concert in Sweden, various memorabilia and photographs from Richard Alvedon, Robert Whitaker, Terry O’Neill and more.
The Beatles marked the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper‘s with a massive reissue package featuring a new stereo mix of the album and a slew of previously unreleased takes.