A pair of John Lennon’ s wire-rimmed eyeglasses sold for more than $80,000 in 2005.

All You Need Is Loot

The market for Beatles memorabilia is valued in the billions and continues to climb. But will your kids care if you own John and Yoko’s Delft porcelain toilet?

By Mike Lafavore

Baby-boomers with a few retirement dollars to spend—and a lot of nostalgia for their youth—continue to buy any rock ’n’ roll ephemera they can get their hands on, from small pieces of the Woodstock stage to scraps of cloth from one of Janis Joplin’s dresses.

But when it comes to generating the big bucks in memorabilia, nobody beats the Beatles. Nearly 50 years after the band broke up for good, the frenzy for all things Fab Four continues, and the band that was only together for seven and a half years generates millions every year through auctions and private sales.