Signed LED ZEPPELIN 'Houses Of The Holy' Album Sleeve Sells At Auction For More Than $18,000

According to BBC News, a LED ZEPPELIN "Houses Of The Holy" album sleeve signed by all four members of the band has sold for £15,000 (approximately $18,935) at auction.

The cardboard sleeve, which does not contain the actual record, was expected to sell for between £1,200 and £1,800.

LED ZEPPELIN items signed by all members of the group are rare because drummer John Bonham died in 1980 at the age of 32. It is believed that there are less than 30 albums signed by all four members in existence.

The original owner of the "Houses Of The Holy" sleeve procured the signatures during a chance encounter with the members of LED ZEPPELIN at Gatwick Airport in 1977, when they were returning to the U.K. from a tour of America.

Andrew Smith, music and memorabilia specialist at Gildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, said: "We were thrilled to achieve this astonishing result for this set of LED ZEPPELIN autographs 50 years on from the original release of 'Houses Of The Holy'.

"Thanks to the extreme rarity of full sets of the band's signatures, this album cover represented a holy grail for collectors determined to own a very special piece of music memorabilia.

"The bidding did become more hesitant after hitting the £10,000 mark, but in the end a telephone bidder triumphed over the fierce competition online."

He added: "This outstanding result is testament both to the value attached to fully signed LED ZEPPELIN memorabilia and the general strength of the market for autographed items.

"With this set of signatures coming from a chance meeting with the band members, it just goes to show that in this day and age if you spot a celebrity, you should ask for an autograph, not a selfie."

LED ZEPPELIN topped the charts again in 1973 with "Houses Of The Holy", which features legendary tracks such as "The Song Remains The Same" and "No Quarter" while also showcasing the continuing evolution of the band's signature sound with the reggae-tinged "D'yer Mak'er" and the funk jam "The Crunge". The album has been certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of over 11 million copies.

In 1968, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant formed LED ZEPPELIN, one of the most influential, innovative and successful groups in modern music, having sold more than 300 million albums worldwide. The band rose from the ashes of THE YARDBIRDS, when Page brought in Plant, Bonham and Jones to tour as THE NEW YARDBIRDS. In 1969, LED ZEPPELIN released its self-titled debut. It marked the beginning of a 12-year reign, during which the group was widely considered to be the biggest and most innovative rock band in the world.

LED ZEPPELIN continues to be honored for its pivotal role in music history. The band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1995, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and a year later was awarded with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. Founding members Jones, Page and Plant — along with Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham — took the stage at London's O2 Arena in 2007 to headline a tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegun, a dear friend and Atlantic Records' founder. The band was honored for its lifetime contribution to American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. In January of 2014, the band won their first-ever Grammy Award as "Celebration Day", which captured their live performance at the Ertegun tribute concert, was named Best Rock Album.