A guest claimed to have designed the band’s first ever logo for free. But they received a welcome surprise when expert Mark Hill estimated his work to be worth thousands.

An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned when his work with The Beatles was valued during Sunday evening’s instalment of the BBC One show.

Expert Mark Hill was at Sefton Park Palm House in Liverpool when he bumped into the guest who had brought sketches of logo that were intended for the band’s drums.

During their appearance, they claimed to have designed the Fab Four’s first logo in 1962, in the midst of their humble beginnings as they were never paid for his work. They assured they were “good mates” with members of the iconic band at the time – despite them eventually turning to Ivor Arbiter.

After a closer look, the guest was then shocked beyond belief when Mark valued their designs at a jaw-dropping £15,000, prompting them to quip they “finally got paid 60 years late” for their hard work.

Antiques Roadshow
An Antiques Roadshow guest showed off the logo he’d designed for The Beatles in 1962 – and for which he was never paid for .

The segment began with the guest explaining: “Well, the Beatles approached me and wanted a logo for the drum.” Mark was then astounded when they added: “I was quite close with the band and they were all at my 21st birthday.”

A fascinated Mark then examined the logos, pointing out: “We’ve got these little antenna here so you are presumably playing on a beetle. It’s interesting to note here, that by these little antennae of this bug logo… you’ve got little pencil drawings here.”

This prompted the guest to reveal these drawings belonged to The Beatles’ icons, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Unfortunately for them, Ringo Starr – who had just joined the band at the time – “didn’t want” the logos on the drums, leaving the guest to hold on to his designs for over 60 years.

“So what we’re effectively looking at here are the very earliest logos ever produced for The Beatles with their band name on it… it’s quite a pair of objects”, Mark assessed before telling the owner that his work could fetch up to £15k in an auction.

But the astonished owner of the designs dropped a small bombshell when they let Mark know they had no intention of selling the logos but didn’t rule it out in the future.
Antiques Roadshow
The guest was shocked when his designs were valued at a jaw-dropping price.

 

Mark also asked the guest if they were upset when The Beatles went with Ivor’s logo suggestion, which featured the iconic dropped T, to which they recalled they hadn’t been affected by the snub as they were “unbelievably busy.”

Elsewhere, Marc Allum got a surprise of his own on the Sunday night program when he was met with a giant guitar. The journalist was stunned by the 10ft instrument, branding it “one of the most surreal” items he’d ever encountered in Antiques Roadshow.

Marc added that the oversized guitar was a Hofner 500, which was particularly liked by Beatles frontman Paul McCartney, who is left-handed. This led to Marc valuing the guitar between £3,000 and £4,000.