The drumhead from the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan debut was sold recently at Julien’s auction in Beverly Hills, CA, for $2.125 million. It was purchased by Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Irsay, to be added to his collection of rare guitars and collectibles in Indianapolis IN. This Remo Drumhead with the Beatles’ logo is now the most expensive drumhead in the world. It is worth so much that Remo’s Founder Remo Belli commented, “We couldn’t even afford to buy our drumhead back!”
This most significant logo drumhead is a 20″ base drumhead made by Remo, Inc. and was originally seen on Ringo Starr’s Ludwig kit on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. It was used for the duration of the Beatles’ first American tour, including all three Ed Sullivan appearances, a concert at Washington Coliseum and two shows at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and was featured on the album covers The Beatles Second Album and Something New.
After the Beatles’ American tour, the drumhead was kept at Abbey Road Studios, London, until it was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1984 and sold to an Australian restaurateur named George Wilkins for just under $9,000. Wilkins re-consigned it to Sotheby’s in 1994 when it was sold to Russ Lease, one of four members in Fab Four Exhibits, LLC, a group who pooled their Beatles’ collectables and partnered with the Grammy Museum to create a traveling exhibit. Now the Beatles’ logo drumhead can be seen by invitation-only in Jim Irsay’s office and secret memorabilia room inside the Indianapolis Colt’s Headquarters.