Pink Floyd items at Christies auction
Written by Matt   
Thursday, 09 September 2004

The famous Christies Auction house are hosting another of their Rock and Pop Memorabilia auctions, where fabulous items of rock history are sold for not inconsiderable sums of money... The latest sale, on September 29th, at their South Kensington, London, branch, includes an original Syd Barrett painting, and six great Pink Floyd flavoured items, some of which has had the Brain Damage office salivating!

If you can get over to Christies on the day of the auction, you can view the items, and get involved with the thrill of a proper auction. To see items going for truly astronomical prices in some instances, to buyers who show little flicker of emotion, is always interesting. Here's what they have on offer:

- Lot 55 - A rare concert flyer for Love In Festival, Alexandra Palace, London, 29th July, 1967. Estimate: £300-500

- Lot 56 - A presentation 'platinum' disc for the album The Final Cut, R.I.A.A. certified, Presented to ROGER WATERS. Estimate: £600-800

- Lot 57 - A custom-made white metal and enamel brooch in the form of an image from Pink Floyd The Wall's animation capturing a moment in the transition of an aeroplane turning into the Mother's screaming face, the brooch engraved with the designer Daniel Azaro's signature on the reverse; accompanied by a silver charm attached to a lapel pin, the charm in the form of a miniature brick engraved Pink Floyd The Wall; and a laminated staff pass decorated with the crossed hammer emblem of Pink Floyd The Wall, the reverse applied with a backstage pass for Pink Floyd Performing The Wall, Nassau Coliseum, February 25th, 1980 (3)

The vendor worked as an animator on the 1982 film Pink Floyd The Wall. He recalled that Nick Mason gave him the small silver brick charm after Pink Floyd's last performance of The Wall. The vendor commissioned the unique brooch shortly after he had finished working on the animation of the film. He had animated the image from The Trial sequence of the aeroplane transforming into the Mother's screaming face, and found it to be so arresting, he commissioned this unique brooch as an unusual memento of it. Estimate: £400-600

- Lot 58 - Hammers Marching Beside A Bridge: an animation cel, gouache on multi-cel set-up framed; accompanied by a document concerning the provenance signed by Roger Waters and Gerald Scarfe. Estimate: £800-1200

- Lot 59 - A page of presentation lyrics in Roger Waters' hand for the song Another Brick [In The Wall], 1979 [this set written more recently], the six lines in green felt tip pen on a sheet of 18 Stave Manuscript paper, signed Roger Waters and inscribed at the foot by Waters in black felt tip pen "Copyright 1979 Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd". Estimate: £400-600

- Lot 60 Syd Barrett - pencil and oil on board, initialled and dated RKB 1963, framed. Born Roger Keith Barrett in 1946, Syd Barrett completed a Foundation Year at Cambridge Art School before moving to London to study at Camberwell School Of Art in 1965. The vendor knew Syd Barrett in the early 1960s when he had been her babysitter in Cambridge and she purchased this painting at the Cambridge Art School end of year show. The painting still has the original frame that Barrett made. Estimate: £2000-3000

- Lot 113 - A collection of approximately 67 concert programmes, newspapers and magazines, 1960s-1980s, including 1967's Winter tour with Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Move, The Amen Corner and Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd. Also Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and other artists programmes. Estimate: £250-350

Our thanks to Vernon Fitch, author of the forthcoming book about The Wall, for tipping us off about this sale!