At Yard Sale: McCartney Letter Seeking New Beatle

Looks like the stars were aligned for Ringo. A 1960 letter written by Paul McCartney sought a drummer for the Beatles two years before Starr joined the Fab Four. The note was discovered folded into a book at a Liverpool yard sale, the AP reports. It was a response to an ad placed by a drummer looking for a band. In the missive, McCartney offered the drummer—whose identity remains unknown—an audition.

It's not clear whether the unknown drummer was rejected or just didn't respond to McCartney's letter. At the time, the Beatles were about to leave for two months in Hamburg and were rushing to find a drummer; they ultimately picked Pete Best, who was later dropped. "This shows that Pete wasn't the only person they were interested in," says a band biographer. Now, the letter is set for auction at Christie's, where it is expected to pull in $11,000. (More Beatles stories.)