Builder To Net More Than $12,000 After Finding 1967 Paul McCartney Sketch In Skip

Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Paul McCartney

At the height of Flower Power, Paul McCartney commissioned pop art collective Binder, Edwards & Vaughn to paint his piano.

McCartney had become familiar with the collective through the London underground and, after witnessing some of the group’s other works, requested they paint the instrument.

The Beatle is still evidently pleased with the striking design, Tweeting an image with him and the instrument as recently as 2019.

(Paul would also return the favor to BEV by providing a 15-minute tape experiment and the holy grail of unreleased Beatles recordings ‘Carnival of Light’ to the collectives’ 1967 hippy happenings The Million Volt Light and The Sound Rave.)

Discarded by BEV alongside commissions for the album cover of The Kinks‘ Sunny Afternoon, heir to the Guinness beer fortune Tara Browne’s psychedelic AC Cobra sports car and others, the designs were rediscovered by Manchester construction worker Andy Clynes sometime around the year 2000.

“I picked them out of the skip,” Clynes has shared of the find with the PA News Agency. “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,” the 54-year-old continues, “but it was damaged.”

After holding on to the designs for two decades Clyne recently, after Googling Paul McCartney‘s piano, realized that the sketches may be of value.

“I’ve had them for 20-odd years,” he adds, explaining why it is it has taken so long for him to share the find with the world at large. ” You put things away and forget about them and then something triggers your mind.”

Clyne in conjunction with the Omega auction house will now auction the Paul McCartney sketch on March 24th.

“It’s fantastic that such an important archive was recovered,” auctioneer Paul Fairweather shares, “And even better for our vendor that it should prove a lucrative decision to save them from the skip. 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.”

Clynes’ entire collection has been valued at over $12,000, with McCartney‘s doodles alone expected to fetch as much $2,000.

the full details on the auction here.

Happy #PianoDay to all you piano players out there! #PianoDay2019 🎹 Photo by @maryamccartney pic.twitter.com/YxE869vGVf

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) March 29, 2019