The management contract made between the Beatles and Brian Epstein - the only such contract ever signed by the group - sold for over $550,000 at Sotheby's Rock and Pop auction in London this week.

The doc was signed on October 1, 1962, just four days ahead of the release of their first single "Love Me Do."

Technically, it was the band's second contract with Epstein, but the first with Ringo Starr, as the original contract was signed by the band's first drummer Pete Best.

"Without this contract, and the relationship it represents, it seems inconceivable that the Beatles could have achieved all that they did: it took more than inspired musicianship and song-writing to remake popular music," said a rep for Sotheby's.