Shocked auction house staff have found a rare collection of Rolling Stones autographs in an old desk inside a book destined for the trash.
The autograph book, which contains a treasure trove of rock band signatures from the swinging sixties, was saved from the trash by sale room staff.
Among the notable scribbles is a full set of signatures from the original line up of legendary rockers the Rolling Stones.
It includes that of wild child Brian Jones, who founded the band in 1962 before being kicked out by lead singer Mick Jagger and lead guitarist Keith Richards in June 1969.
He was found dead in his swimming pool shortly after.
They had been left in an old secretaire, which was sent for disposal at an auction.
But after the writing desk sold for £20 ($25), the book is now likely to fetch around £500 ($645) when it goes under the hammer on Thursday.
“The little secretaire came from one of our regular vendors who acquired it in a job lot that he bought from a London house clearance specialist,” said auctioneer Paul Potter.
“It was immediately added it to a load that he was bringing to the saleroom. Nobody had clocked the little book that was lying at the back of one of the drawers.
“All of the autographs were gathered in the period 1962-69 and they include a fascinating mixture of bands and musicians, some that would become famous and successful, others that disappeared after the briefest of struts on the stages of the nation’s dancehalls.”
Guitarist Jones was one of founding members of the band, but he was kicked out for taking too many drugs.
He lived a life of excess, which included fathering five children with five women by the age of 23, swapping girlfriends with bandmates and fending off naked groupies.
He was found dead at just 27 at the bottom of his swimming pool in East Sussex, England by his Swedish girlfriend Anna Wohlin, creating the mythological “27 club.”
Other autographs in the book include Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, a London group that beat The Beatles in a head-to-head audition for a Decca Records contract.
Just a few months later, they knocked “She Loves You” off the Number 1 spot in the charts.
Page after page of the book boats scribbled names of groups and pop musicians such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, who found stardom with “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Other forgotten stars that jotted their name in the book include Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, whose members briefly included Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin.
“Three quarters of the way through the book there are several blank pages and that seems to be it, but next comes a complete set of the autographs of The Rolling Stones,” said Paul.
“Furthermore it is the band’s original line-up: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones, the original lead guitarist who quit the band in 1969, just a few weeks before his death.
“The book has a pre-sale estimate of £300-£500 [$387- $645] but it has been attracting a lot of attention ahead of the auction so that might just be a conservative valuation.”
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
