Before the fame and fortune, the Lads from Liverpool put in thousands of hours in clubs and lounges across the UK, Germany, Sweden, and France. Yet few venues can be so closely associated with the earliest days of the Beatles as the original Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.

The Beatles first played the Cavern Club in 1961 where they were soon noticed by talent spotter and future manager, Brian Epstein. The venue was inspired by Parisian jazz clubs and boasted an iconic brick laden cellar that served as the stage. As noted above, this specimen is a fragment of one of those bricks that first experienced the sound of the Beatles.

When the original club was demolished in 1973, a selection of bricks was taken and placed at auction. Mini Museum's material comes from one of these 1973 bricks, meaning the sound of the first 1961 Beatles performance passed through these specimens.

Each specimen is hand-cut by our specimen technicians and comes displayed in a cushioned acrylic jar. The jar is enclosed inside a classic, glass-topped riker display case that measures 4"x3"x1". A small information card is also enclosed.

Please Note: Color will vary widely on this specimen between red, gray, and swirls of both colors. The unique texture and coloring are the result of uneven firing and rough materials used at the time. This makes each specimen completely unique.

To commemorate this exclusive item, we created a 3x4" display card with photos of the band, as well as more information about the Cavern Club's impact on the early history of the Beatles. The larger cards also serve as the certificate of authenticity and feature the official Mini Museum Seal of Authenticity. You can see the front and back of this card below.

In addition to the larger card, we have also included our standard photo card, in case you wish to keep a unified look with the other Mini Museum items in your collection, though we think you'll love the look of this card just as much as we do.

The Beatles Brick Specimen is the ultimate Beatles collector's item. Taken from the club that gave the band its first show, each fragment comes in a handsome display case and a photo card that contains information about the item. Whether you're starting your collecting or looking for something new to add, this is an incredible touchstone to the birth of modern rock music from one of the greatest bands of all time.

1961 was the Beatles' debut as a full group, but it wasn't John Lennon and Paul McCartney's first time at the subterranean club. They'd played the Cavern before as the Quarrymen in 1957, when the club was a strict jazz only venue.

Sir Paul McCartney recalled that first gig in Spenser Leigh's book The Cavern Club: The Rise of The Beatles and Merseybeat:

"We fibbed about our repertoire and managed to get a date there, where we proceeded to announce songs like 'Long Tall Sally' as written by Blind Lemon Jefferson and 'Blue Suede Shoes,' the famous creation of the legendary blues artist Leadbelly!  When the owners of the Cavern realized what we were doing, then sent little notes up to the stage complaining but it was too late."

Four years later much had changed.  The Beatles had picked up George Harrison (1958) and drummer Peter Best (1960).  They'd also been playing a new kind of music, a rock-and-roll offshoot called "beat," which was sweeping over the UK and the club scene in Hamburg, Germany.  The new owner of the Cavern Club also embraced beat music and the throngs of screaming teenage girls that seemed to follow their favorite bands everywhere they went.

From 1961 to 1963, the Fab Four played 292 shows in the Cavern Club.  This is where they first met manager Brian Epstein, who came to nearly all of their shows for three weeks straight.  It was also the location of their famous 1962 Welcome Home concert when the band returned from their final residency in Hamburg, and the frenzy that would become Beatlemania was first put on display.  Ringo Starr also made his public debut here with the band just two months later, and before the year was out the group shared the stage with the legendary Little Richard.

Nowadays, the Cavern Club is still an excellent venue to catch a show in Liverpool, with live music every night.

The memories the Beatles had of the venue were always fond ones. It was the crucible for not just the Beatles, but the wave of rock and roll that would define music to this day.

In 2015, Paul McCartney said of the Cavern Club:

"It was the breeding ground for what would become the Beatles' early repertoire, and I will always think of the place with great affection for the days spent with my pals in its sweaty, damp atmosphere."