PSA files card #1 of the 1964 Topps Beatles Black and White set under one name, George Harrison. The photograph has all four Beatles in it. The name comes from the signature: a blue facsimile "George Harrison" written across the front, the only text the card face carries. PSA has graded 74 of the first-series card, and exactly one of them is a 10.

The Card

The front is a horizontal black-and-white photograph taken outdoors, with a flower bed in the foreground and trees and a row of buildings behind. Paul McCartney is at the left, one knee raised. Harrison is next to him, mid-wave. John Lennon leans in on the right, and Ringo Starr crouches at the far right edge. The Harrison signature runs across the bottom left of the photo in blue.

There is no caption, no name bar and no team-style banner, which is why the signature does the identifying. Hero Habit's checklist of the set describes the format the same way: a plain black-and-white photo with one Beatle's facsimile signature printed over it, and on cards showing more than one member, the signature belongs to one of them. PSA's label follows the signature, so this card's slab reads "1964 BEATLES B&W / GEORGE HARRISON / 1ST SERIES / #1."

The "1st Series" part is literal. According to Hero Habit, the first-series backs are blank apart from a copyright line and the card's number "in a series of 60." Hero Habit reads that as a sign the first series was meant to be the whole release. Two more series followed.

The Timing

The card belongs to the year the Beatles reached America. They landed at New York's Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 7, 1964, and their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show two days later drew more than 73 million viewers, according to Wikipedia's account of the band's Sullivan appearances.

The Beatle on the Signature

Harrison was the youngest of the four, born Feb. 25, 1943, so he was 20 when the band reached New York and turned 21 later that month. He was the band's lead guitarist then, and he came to be called "the quiet Beatle." Most Beatles songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, but most of the albums carried at least one Harrison composition, among them "Taxman," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun."

After the band split, his triple album All Things Must Pass produced "My Sweet Lord," his most successful single, and in 1971 he organised the Concert for Bangladesh with Ravi Shankar. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, with the Beatles in 1988 and for his solo career in 2004, three years after his death in 2001 at 58.

PSA Population Report

PSA GradePopulation
PSA 101
PSA 99
PSA 89
Total Graded (All Grades)74

* Population data as of November 4, 2026. PSA population counts are dynamic and increase as more cards are submitted for grading.

Reading the Curve

The full straight-grade curve:

  • PSA 10: 1
  • PSA 9: 9
  • PSA 8: 9
  • PSA 7: 15
  • PSA 6: 11
  • PSA 5: 10
  • PSA 4: 9
  • PSA 3: 4
  • PSA 2: 3
  • Authentic: 3

The peak is at PSA 7, with 15 copies. The shape above it is the unusual part. There are as many 9s as 8s, nine each, so the curve holds level for two grades before it falls to a single 10.

Off the main ladder, PSA has also graded one 7.5, one 8.5, one 7 with a qualifier and one 9 with a qualifier, which brings the number of slabs to 78. PSA has not graded a copy at 1.

Verdict: A first card that is really a group portrait, credited to the quietest man in it. With 74 graded and a single 10, the top of this card's population is one copy deep.

Pictured: PSA NM-MT 8, cert 30934054.