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George Harrison's personally-owned stage-worn pink long-sleeve button-down shirt from his Cavern Club days with the Beatles, won at a "Beatle Raffle" sponsored by the Bredbury and Romiley Oxfam Committee on April 4, 1964. The dressy shirt measures 17.5˝ from shoulder seam to shoulder seam, with an arm length of 22˝, and has a "Jewel" maker's label sewn in the collar. In very good to fine condition, with the armpit areas darkened. Accompanied by the original "Beatle Raffle" ticket, which notes the top four prizes as a "Choice of personal belongings of the Beatles," as well as two original candid photographs of George Harrison's mother, Louise, at his childhood home on Mackets Lane, one showing her in front of his wardrobe.
Also includes a lengthy, explanatory twelve-page story by Marilyn Barry, chronicling her sojourn to Liverpool to track down Beatles relics and family members in February 1964, during which time she met Louise Harrison and purchased the winning raffle ticket, plus a photocopy of her nineteen-page scrapbook, which brings the story to life. Filled with the bold vigor of youth, Barry and her three friends also visited the homes of Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon, taking photographs, collecting autographs and relics, and engaging with various members of their families.
Writes Barry, in small part: "Mackett's Lane was right out in the suburbs of Liverpool and the Harrison's home was a modern Council house. Mr. Harrison opened the door and said, 'Come in girls'…Mrs. Harrison was rather quiet but very sweet. She was busy unwrapping George's twenty-first birthday presents, of which there were many…After a while the two Oxfam girls arrived. They were collecting personal items for a Beatles' raffle. Mrs. Harrison brought down one of George's old shirts, which we all kissed. It was pink with black stains under the arms. She told us that George wore a black polo-neck jumper underneath it in the Cavern. When he played at the Cavern, he used to sweat so much that his clothes were dripping when he came home. We all bought tickets for the raffle, which included some of John Lennon's hair. I don't normally win anything in raffles, but I won George's shirt and John's hair. I kept the shirt but gave the hair to Janice who loved John the most."
