LOS ANGELES — Not something you would give your mom for Mother’s Day, a John Lennon-owned copy of the Beatles’ notorious “Butcher Cover” version of Yesterday and Today, autographed by three members of the group, sold for $234,000 at a Beatles-themed auction hosted by Julien’s Auctions on May 9, just ahead of the Mother’s Day weekend. It was one of the expected top lots in the firm’s The Beatles in Liverpool auction, a collection of more than 300 memorabilia items relating to the Fab Four.

“This was a world record for a Beatles Butcher cover and the third highest price paid for a vinyl,” Darren Julien, chief executive and president of Julien’s Auctions, stated. “The market is still developing so we anticipate in the next five years this same record could bring $500,000-plus.”

One of the highly anticipated items in the sale, John Lennon’s-owned and -signed album Yesterday And Today (1966), a US First State Butcher album prototype stereo example, is considered by Beatles experts as the rarest Beatles record in the world. It was displayed on the wall of his Dakota apartment in New York until he had an assistant take it down and deliver it to the record plant where he signed it in blue ink: “To Dave from/ John Lennon/ Dec 7th 71.” The recipient was Dave Morrell, a Beatles fan and bootleg collector. “The Butcher” was given in essentially a trade for a reel-to-reel tape of Morrell’s Yellow Matter Custard bootleg that Lennon desired. Lennon filled the blank back of the cover with an original piece of art depicting a man holding a shovel with his dog in front of a setting sun. The cover also includes autographs by Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, which Morrell obtained later. This is believed to be the only First State Butcher album bearing three Beatles signatures and it was estimated $160/180,000.

For information, www.juliensauctions.com or 310-836-1818.