One man owned a very special piece of memorabilia from Live Aid 1985 (Picture: Getty/BBC)
The saying ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ could not have been more true as a guest was left wide-eyed when he discovered how much an item of ‘junk’ was worth on Antiques Roadshow.
His so-called junk item was an original perspex sign that appeared in the background of live TV broadcasts during the Live Aid concert, displaying the famous logo with the guitar in the shape of Africa.
Held on July 12, 1985, the multi-venue benefit concert was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.
Indeed, an eye-watering amount was raised for charity thanks to the generosity of the public and desperate pleas from celebrities.
One person who was at the centre of the action was our Antiques Roadshow guest, who worked in catering feeding the crew of performers such as Queen, Sir Elton John, The Who, and Sir Paul McCartney.
Now, you might be wondering how he, of all people, came to acquire such a valuable piece of memorabilia, which valuer Jon Baddeley hailed as ‘one of the most famous logos in the history of rock ‘n roll music.’
The benefit concert raised over £150million for the famine in Africa (Picture: Staff/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Organiser Bob Geldof was pivotal in getting donations up (Picture: FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images)
He explained on Sunday night’s episode: ‘I was actually looking for certain items that had been thrown out of my personal laundry. Somebody threw them out thinking it was rubbish.
‘And at the refuse area, that’s where I found this. I didn’t find my laundry, but I found this and that made up for it slightly.’
‘You weren’t looking for this at all? You were trying to find your clean underpants!’, the antiques expert quizzed.
‘Yes, and clean socks!’, the man joked.
A member of catering staff acquired a sign from the live broadcast on a total whim (Picture: BBC)
He was actually looking for his washing at the time! (Picture: BBC)
Explaining the significance of the item, Jon continued: ‘This wasn’t part of the stage, it was part of the live broadcast when various stars came along and were interviewed
‘Seven or eight hours into the show, Bob Geldof asked, “How much money have we raised?”, and I think it came to £1.5million or something like that, and he was really cross after all the effort. So, when he went to do the live interview, he famously came up with the phrase… forget about this, just give us the money, with an expletive in there.
‘And because of his emotion and the force of his personality, it increased the donations by £300 per second.
‘And in the background, you’ll see this and another one, there were two.’
The man couldn’t believe how much the sign could be worth today (Picture: BBC)
Antiques expert Jon Baddeley was in awe (Picture: BBC)
He added that the effort went on to raise a whopping £150million for famine in Africa.
‘A massive amount in 1985. A lot of money now, even more then,’ said Jon.
‘It’s very rare.’
Because it’s so rare, the value of it today is astonishing.
‘If you ever decided to sell it, I think we’re talking a figure at auction today, between £8,000-£12,000,’ Jon said.
The perspex sign is certainly more valuable than the gentleman’s dirty socks! (Picture: BBC)
‘Wow. Incredible,’ the gentleman replied, clearly blown away.
He then joked that his original washing was probably worth around 60p – so something tells us he isn’t missing those socks and underpants anymore!
Antiques Roadshow airs Sunday nights on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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The man found it while searching for his clean underpants!