Fab four fan selling decades worth of memorabilia
If you think Barbie mania is big, it has nothing on Beatle mania back in the 1960s. Back then, without copyright restrictions, companies would cash in on the fab four with some of the most bizarre memorabilia. Now, one of Australia’s most obsessive Beatles fans is putting his whole collection up for sale.
Transcript
00:00 This is only the appetiser folks, that ain't all.
00:06 It seems like just yesterday when Dallas Atkins bought his first Beatles souvenir.
00:12 Come into my little hideaway.
00:15 Here are the Beatles.
00:20 I have been a Beatles memorabilia collector since the late 60s and on.
00:29 I went out and found my very first album, made, bought out of my own pocket money, bought
00:36 from Walsons in Newcastle.
00:40 And from there he just couldn't let it be.
00:43 Someone couldn't afford the dress so they made it out of curtains, very collectible.
00:50 One of the original wigs, these are very hard to find.
00:53 The Beatles only game, flip your wig.
00:55 For 55 years Dallas has been on a magical mystery tour of the world's op shops, here,
01:01 there and everywhere across the Beatles universe, snapping up anything fab four.
01:07 Here we have the wonderful 8 tracks, remember those guys, back in the old Ford panel vans.
01:12 And ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, we have George Harrison and Paul McCartney's
01:17 signature, received from a reporter who interviewed him in the 60s, he lost Ringo and John.
01:24 But after recently moving to Canberra and with display space at a premium, Dallas has
01:31 had to hide his love away and reluctantly decided he'd carried that weight for long enough.
01:38 Have you been called a bit crazy?
01:40 I was quite crazy, called crazy and some people would say I'm crazy to sell it.
01:47 But there is a time where we all have to decide what to do with our collections.
01:51 You could pass it on to the family but if they haven't got the passion, it may be passed
01:55 on to the tip.
01:57 He was in talks with the powerhouse museum to take the whole lot but that fell through,
02:04 so now it's Beatles for sale.
02:08 It's a sad chapter but it's an exciting chapter to see where it goes.
02:13 Beetle lunch boxes there.
02:14 As to what it's worth, well maybe $80,000 but money can't really buy this love.
02:21 Little jigsaw puzzle, Beatles hanky.
02:23 Tate Towers only made of iron.
02:25 It just goes on and on.
02:27 For Dallas Atkins though, all things must pass and his Beatles collecting passion is
02:34 reaching the end.
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