She had a rock’n’roll life: a tablecloth ennobled by sketches of the Beatles before their last official concert in San Francisco was returned to its owners more than 50 years after being stolen.
This relic, which bears the mark of each member of the “Fab Four”, was born on a corner of the table during a meal before their last concert at Candlestick Park in 1966. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have all left their mark there, as well as folk singer Joan Baez.
Restaurateur Joe Vilardi immediately framed and displayed this unique souvenir in the window of his bar. But the collector’s item had been stolen after barely a week. The precious slick then remained off the radar for 55 years…until a recent call from Texas, received by grandson Vilardi.
“It was a lady who asked me if our family had a restaurant business in San Francisco, and I immediately had a feeling it had to do with the tablecloth”told Michael Vilardi to AFP. “His brother had the tablecloth, didn’t know what to do with it and kept it for all these years.”
The receiver had received it in payment of a debt, according to Joe Vilardi. “He tried to sell it, but since it was stolen he might have gotten into trouble, so his sister convinced him to give it back.”
“No one thought we would ever see this object, and we had all grown up hearing my grandfather’s story. But none of us had ever seen the tablecloth”he added.
The artifact will now be auctioned. The lucky buyer will be able to contemplate up close the psychedelic sunset sketched by John Lennon, the sketched portraits by Paul McCartney and Joan Baez, as well as the signatures of George Harrison and Ringo Starr. This one-of-a-kind keepsake is likely to fetch $25,000, according to auction house Bonhams.
The Candlestick Park gig went down in history as the band’s last commercial performance, which announced their split after that North American tour.
More than 50 years later, the “Beatlemania” survives and the memories of the group are still snapped up at exorbitant prices. In 2015, the Beatles’ first recording contract sold for $75,000 at auction.