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Beatles fans have no shortage of cool merch to find online, from limited-edition vinyl to festival-ready blankets, but this new merch release might just stand on its own.
Amazon is selling fan-made Beatles nesting dolls, with the Fab Four immortalized as the traditional Russian wooden toys. Better known as matryoshka dolls, the stackable set features five egg-shaped figurines, with each of the band members depicted on a different-sized stacker. The fifth (and smallest) doll is a tiny beetle.
These Beatles Russian dolls are all hand-painted and finished with a clear lacquer. The largest doll features a painting of John Lennon and measures approximately 5.75 inches, followed in size by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. All the other dolls fit neatly inside the largest one, and can also be taken apart with a separate top and bottom (and hollow center).
Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Nesting Doll Set
A great collector's item or gift for Beatles fans, this set is presented in a red gift box.
Amazon says the nesting dolls are hand-made from solid bass wood (or “lime wood”), with original paintings that were designed just for this release. Little details and Beatles motifs abound, from the Sixties-esque Sgt. Pepper-inspired uniforms, to the band members' distinct hairstyles, to flowered chevrons on Lennon's shoulders, which the seller says represents the band's “total disdain for war and disharmony.”
Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Nesting Doll Set
You can also pick up an alternative set with McCartney as the largest — and featured — wooden doll. This one comes housed in a glossy blue gift box.
This is a limited-edition release so you'll want to add to cart while the Beatles nesting dolls are still in stock. A great piece of memorabilia, this fan-made Sgt. Pepper-inspired set is an ideal addition to a bookshelf or desk, and makes a great gift idea too.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (or Sgt. Pepper) was released in May 1967 and became one of the Beatles' most acclaimed releases, topping sales charts in the UK and the US and chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” piece of work. It even topped Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
And while the Beatles inspired these Russian dolls, the band never did play in Russia — or the Soviet Union as it was known back then. The Fab Four — and their music — was banned from the communist country, though it didn't stop bootlegs copies of their albums from being passed around and gaining popularity. While the band never performed in Russia, Paul McCartney finally made it to the country in 2003, performing for a crowd of more than 100,000 people in Moscow's legendary Red Square.
