Beatlemania is alive and well, as 250 items from the iconic band went under the hammer, with many attracting massive bids.

The star of the show was Sir Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics for 1968 hit Hey Jude, which sold for $US910,000 ($A1.43 million).

Sir Paul had written the words in black felt tip pen and the lyrics sheet was used during a recording session by the Fab Four at London’s Trident Studios.

The sale amount smashed the guide price of $US160,000 dollars ($A252,000). The buyer wished to remain anonymous.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, auction staff accepted digital real-time bids via phone and online from remote locations.

The online sale marked 50 years since the band broke up.

The auction also included never-before-seen memorabilia, guitars and instruments, autographed items and other rare collectables.

A vintage Ludwig branded bass drumhead, bearing the The Beatles logo and used during a performance at the Cow Palace Arena in San Francisco on August 19, 1964, fetched $US200,000 ($A315,000), four times its estimate.

That performance was the opening concert of The Beatles’s first North American tour.

Following the concert, the back-up kit was returned and the skin bearing The Beatles logo was removed and later given to Coast Wholesale VIP client Ken “Kenny” Williams, owner of the San Francisco store Drum Land, where it was then displayed on the store wall for three decades.

A script page for the Hello, Goodbye music video, complete with handwritten drawings, notes and ideas from John Lennon, George Harrison and Beatles roadie Mal Evans, fetched $US83,200 ($A131,000).

An original lacquer disc recording of Beatles album Get Back, believed to have been created by producer Glyn Johns, sold for $US32,000 ($A50,400).

Also sold was an original stage from the first Beatles performance at Lathom Hall in Liverpool on May 14 1960. That fetched $US25,000 ($A39,000).

Artwork from Sir Paul, created while he was a student in Liverpool, sold for $US28,000 ($A44,000), more than 14 times the guide price.

And Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “BAGISM” drawing, featured in the couple’s 1969 Bed In Peace documentary as part of their demonstration against the Vietnam War, sold for $US93,750 ($A147,700).

-with agencies