Beatles collection

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 14

Beatles collection

By NZPA' staff correspondent SUZANNE POLLARD A huge collection of Beatles Memorabilia — records, badges, posters, and stage props — is being amassed by the Victoria and Albert Museum for future display in London. ’ When the proposed theatre museum at the Victoria and Albert opens in Co vent Garden in about two years time, it is expected that it will show a permanent exhibit devoted to the Beatles as part of its pop music display.Recent high prices for Beatles memorabilia in

London salerooms have done little to stem the flow of objects being given to. the museum’s collection.' Interest in the Beattes, which flagged in the mid--19705, is now growing at an enormous rate. The mod revival in England is bringing the Beatles into popularity with a generation too young to have appreciated the original Beatlemania. At a Sotheby’s sale recently 14 early photographs of the group sold for about $llOO, much more than the auctioneers had expected. A New York buyer recently paid about $2BO

for a single signed photograph of the Beatles, taken in 1963. It is this type of souvenir that , the museum has attracted, although its most prized and valuable objects are a collection of collarless suits the Beatles used to wear at their conThe Victoria and Albert Museum is constantly collecting examples of current fashions and trends for use in future displays. Among its most recent acquisitions is a mini-dress worn by Debbie Harry of Blondie during one of her London concerts earlier this year.