Builder could make £10,000 after finding Paul McCartney 'magic piano' drawings in skip
16 March 2020, 10:02
A builder could be £10,000 richer after finding papers in a skip that included drawings of Sir Paul McCartney commissioned for his psychedelic piano.
Andy Clynes, from Oldham, was overseeing a development at a mill near Manchester when the papers were thrown out with other waste.
The 54-year-old took them out of the skip and stored the papers in a box in his attic for almost two decades until deciding recently to check how much they are worth
An auction house is now selling the highlight of the find, the sketches and designs for the Beatle’s so-called “magic” piano.
More of the papers from his find will be auctioned in a separate sale later this year at Omega Auctions, and is predicted to collect up to £10,000.
The man, a buildings site contract manager, picked up the papers around 1999 while converting a mill into a wine bar. He admitted to having no idea of how they got there.
Speaking of his find, Mr Clynes said: “I picked them out of the skip.
“The case burst open as it was thrown in. It was raining and I just picked up what I could.”
I imagine there was a lot more there but it was damaged.”
The papers document a handwritten list of commissions for 1960s art collective BEV.
They include commissions for The Kinks – the collective worked on their album cover Sunny Afternoon – Lord Snowdon, Guinness heir Tara Browne and Sir Paul.
Collective member Dudley Edwards painted the psychedelic motifs on to the star’s piano in 1967.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather described the papers as a “rare find”.
“It’s fantastic that such an important archive was recovered and even better for our vendor that it should prove a lucrative decision to save them from the skip,” he said.
“The designs of BEV encapsulate the optimism, excitement and free spirit of collaboration that ensures that the late 1960s endure in the popular consciousness even to this day.”
The sketches and designs for Sir Paul’s piano are expected to fetch up to £2,000 in the Beatles vinyl and memorabilia sale at Omega Auctions on March 24.
