The first known studio recording of David Bowie sold for a hammer price of £32,000 against a £10,000-20,000 estimate at Merseyside auction house Omega Auctions on September 11.
The 1963 demo tape, rejected by Decca, features a 16-year-old Bowie - then known as David Jones - singing I Never Dreamed with first band The Konrads.
The 18-minute recording was sold by The Konrads’ drummer David Hadfield, who had discovered it in an old bread basket in his loft.
The auctioneer said it had not been heard by the public and is the only known copy to exist. Included is a CD copy of the tape with two edited masters.
Bowie and the band had been performing the track for a number of months when their agent, Eric Easton (a manager of The Rolling Stones), suggested they record a demo to try to get an audition at Decca. Bowie was the sax player in the band but the band decided to use him on vocals for this track as it suited his sound. In early 1963 the band booked the RG Jones studio in Morden, south London, and recorded the track.
Over in Essex, on September 11 items from the "good old-fashioned clear out" of Rod Stewart fetched just under £90,000 at Sworders.
The 35-plus lots of furniture and ornaments included a teak lounge armchair with a faux leopard print cushion estimated at £250-350 which sold at £3800.
Another rock’n’roll highlight was the sale of a Bee Gees guitar at Gardiner Houlgate in Wiltshire on September 12.
A Maurice Gibb-owned guitar, a custom-made 1968 Gibson EBS-1250 double-neck variety which combines a bass and guitar into a single instrument, sold at its bottom estimate at £7000 at its sale called The Guitar Auction – including vinyl and music memorabilia.
The Maurice Gibb-owned custom-made 1968 Gibson EBS-1250 double-neck guitar that sold at Gardiner Houlgate.
The guitar was sold by Gibb in 1974 to another musician and collector, who has owned it ever since, and it is believed to be the only one of its kind made by Gibson in 1968.
Also in the same sale at Gardiner Houlgate the guitar George Harrison appeared with at the Beatles’ last Cavern Club appearance sold for a hammer price of £280,000, against a £300,000-400,000 estimate.
The Australian-made Maton Master Sound MS-500, used by Harrison in the summer of 1963, sold to an overseas private collector by phone.
The sale featured more than 400 guitars. Luke Hobbs, the Gardiner Houlgate auctioneer, said: “Interest in the sale was very high. It’s been a record auction in every way.”
A Maton Master Sound MS-500, used by George Harrison in the summer of 1963. It sold at auction at £280,000.
