This fascinating area of collecting was surprisingly ignored by all but a handful of collectors from the 1960s to the mid 1990s. But during the past few years ticket collecting has taken off and is now getting more popular. Tickets are continuing their climb based on scarcity and high demand, especially true for near-mint condition unused examples of certain shows.

It is typically more difficult to find full tickets from any of their 1964 or 1965 shows as most of those concerts were completely sold out. In 1966, amid controversy, they played huge sports arenas for the most part and although most were successful, not all sold out, leaving full tickets for Beatle collectors to enjoy decades later in their unused glory. The Beatles sold more than one million tickets for their live North American appearances.

Most tickets are priced and evaluated separately, and as with all collectibles, condition is very important in this regard. Folds, stains, tears and any writing reduces the value and usually lowers the desirability of any ticket. Stubs are worth a fraction of the value of the same full ticket, but even that varies depending on the remaining portion and what information or pictures can be seen. In some cases where very few known examples exist, condition of course becomes much less important.

Tickets, unlike massed produced commercial products, were only available regionally and in most cases are somewhat difficult to find. The printing of the tickets themselves was a fairly complex process that sometimes required many passes through various printing presses. Ticket manufacturers like Globe used to require at least 2 weeks to complete a print job. Tickets were usually printed in sheets of twelve, with the perforations already in place for each ticket. Usually the text information on the ticket would be printed first (i.e. performer name, venue, price, etc.) If the text contained more than one color, the tickets would be run through a separate time for each color. Often, the tickets would again be run separately through a "Hiedelburg"-type press for the seat numbers, row numbers and section numbers to be printed. These types of tickets can be noted for the imprint that the seat numbers leave in the ticket. If the promoter were presenting more than one show by the Beatles, another batch of tickets would be printed in the same way but with a different date and/or time, and some form of distinct marking to assist in recognizing it as a ticket for the other performance.

There are no known complete sets in collectors' hands, even if you count stubs! With over 500 different ticket variations issued in North America, even the most advanced collectors have barely put a dent into having them all. Some have focused on collecting just one ticket or stub per show, cutting the required variations to 73. Others concentrate on certain years or venues.

Ticket collecting and demand will no doubt continue to grow, especially while it is still possible to find some nice mint unused tickets at reasonable prices. There are still several cities in which no known full unused tickets have turned up, although the list is shrinking as several previously undiscovered tickets turned up in the late 1990s. Some recent finds of rare unused tickets include an afternoon Detroit '64, a Montreal evening show, the 1965 Ed Sullivan show, 1964 Pittsburgh, a perfect Cow Palace 1965 evening, Atlanta 1965 and both 1965 Hollywood Bowl shows.