Auction News: Sex, drugs, and rock & roll go under hammer at auction

BIDDERS will be able to get their hands on sex, drugs, and rock & roll at an antiques auction in the Cotswolds next week.

In the rock & roll corner is a collection of 7-inch singles, representing some of the best music committed to vinyl in the 1960s.

Original pressings of My Generation by The Who, All Day and All of the Night by the Kinks, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, and Gimme Some Loving by the Spencer Davis Group can all be found in the collection of 45s, which will be sold by Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on Friday, May 20.

The Beatles are also well represented: Day Tripper, Hello Goodbye, and Ticket to Ride are all there, along with the 1964 four-track EP The Beatles for Sale.

They are indeed for sale, and a bid of £50 to £80 should secure the lot.

In the drugs corner are a couple of pieces of smoking paraphernalia.

An Edwardian silver matchbox case was designed to fit around an oversized box of matches, which is included.

At 16cm by 10.5cm the oversized Swan Vestas matchbox is around nine times the size of a regular matchbox.

The silver case was made in 1908 by William Hutton & Sons of Birmingham. It commands an estimate of £80 to £120.

Meanwhile, a pine chest is emblazoned with the sailor emblem of Player's Navy Cut cigarettes and the legend Player's Please. The trunk is expected to achieve £80 to £120.

Finally, for sex bidders need look no further than over the Queen's shoulder.

Just last month, a rare banknote featuring the word SEX spelled out in palm tree leaves over the Queen’s shoulder sold for nearly 250 times its face value at Moore Allen & Innocent.

The Seychelles 50 rupee note – whose face value is equivalent to around £2.50 - achieved a staggering £620.

Now, following the worldwide publicity the sale achieved, the auction house has been asked to sell two more.

Each carries an estimate of £500 to £600.

The note was issued by the Government of Seychelles between 1968 and 1973, and features an image of a young Queen in the foreground, with the tropical island behind her.

It was produced at a time when the Seychelles was seeking independence from Great Britain.

The suspicion was that pro-independence printers had incorporated the word SEX – spelled out in palm fronds – into the note.

For a full auction catalogue, log on to mooreallen.co.uk