Beatles online exhibition
Accession number CENM2004.6
Over one million copies of The Beatles' single 'A Hard Day's Night' were sold. Sales for the album 'Something New' made more than one million dollars. To celebrate this The Beatles were presented with ten gold discs whilst on tour in America in 1964.
In November 1964 Capitol Records arranged transport of these discs to Britain by sea. However, it appears that no one was expecting them, and in London Docks they were not properly declared to Customs. They remained undeclared for 37 years, despite the efforts of Customs and Excise. When this was realised the Apple Corps Limited (acting for The Beatles) completed the declaration forms, and the discs were finally released in May 2002.
To mark these unusual events, The Beatles have agreed to donate two discs to 'Seized! Revenue and Customs uncovered', the national museum of HM Revenue and Customs. The gold disc for the album Something New is shown above.
We'd like to include your memories and stories in the new Museum of Liverpool's 'Growing up with The Beatles' exhibition and on this website. Are you a Beatles fan? Does this gold disc trigger any memories or anecdotes? If so then we would love to hear from you.
E-mail the Museum of Liverpool and tell us what comes to mind while looking at our Beatles collection. Please include your name, age, where you are from and your contact details if you'd like to get involved.
'Growing up with The Beatles' is one of the displays being planned for the new Museum of Liverpool, which opens in 2011.