The key to the childhood home of Sir Paul McCartney in Liverpool is expected to go up for auction.
Auctioneers expect the key for the property at 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton to sell for between £2,000 and £3,000.
McCartney lived at the address with his family from 1955 until late 1963, before achieving global fame. Built in 1949, the property became the McCartney family home during the singer's secondary school years.
He resided there alongside his mother Mary, his father Jim McCartney, and his younger brother Mike. Mary died just one year after the family moved into the house.
Musical origins at Forthlin Road
It was inside the Forthlin Road home that McCartney learned to play the trumpet, piano, guitar, and drums. He eventually moved to London in 1963, while his father moved out of the property a year later.
Since 1995, the building has belonged to the National Trust, the British charity dedicated to protecting natural and cultural heritage sites across the country. Sir Paul McCartney rose to prominence as the co-lead vocalist and bassist for the Beatles, the influential English rock group formed in Liverpool.
A gift for a New York fan
After the McCartneys departed, the house passed into the ownership of Ashley and Sheila Jones. The couple periodically received visits from Beatles enthusiasts eager to see a location tied to the history of the band.
The key offered at auction originally came into the possession of Kathleen Salt, a 13-year-old Beatles fan living in New York. Salt had sent a letter addressed to the resident of 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton.
Several months later, she received a surprise three-page handwritten letter from Ashley Jones. Jones wrote that he owned two original keys to the property and believed the key he was enclosing might have been McCartney's personal key.
