High price for Beatles' cover figure

Dietrich featured on the band's most famous LP cover

A cardboard cut-out of Marlene Dietrich that was used on the cover of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album has sold at auction for £86,250.

The price paid by a private Italian collector was more than four times what Christie's auction house in London had expected it to fetch.

The cut-out, which was signed by all four Beatles and the album's cover artist Peter Blake, was part of a sale of hundreds of items of pop memorabilia.

Collectable items relating to Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, David Bowie and Kurt Cobain featured in the sale in London on Wednesday.

In total fans and collectors paid more than £364,000 for rare and autographed pieces of rock history, £10,000 more than anticipated.

Bob Marley played this guitar on his 1970s album Kaya

Other Beatles' highlights included a rare concert programme from April 1964 signed by all four members of the band, along with self-portrait caricatures.

A signed 1968 demo record of The Beatles' Hey Jude/Revolution made by Trident Studios was expected to fetch up to £6,000.

A 1972 Guild F112 acoustic 12-string guitar used by reggae superstar Bob Marley on his Kaya album was also up for sale.

David Bowie memorabilia included a Ziggy Stardust gold disc presented to his manager Tony DeFries in 1974, and the singer's 1970 contract with Chrysalis Records.

A Michael Jackson fan also sold off an autographed pillow that the star threw from the balcony of London's Dorchester Hotel in May 2000.