A treasure trove of medallions from The Cavern Club have been discovered 35 years after the closure of the the legendary Liverpool music club.
The medallions were once used as proof of membership at the world famous cradle of The Beatles and the Merseybeat sound.
They were unearthed by Roy Adams, the club's last owner, when he was clearing-out a shed at his home on Merseyside.
Now a limited number are to be put on sale to the general public, allowing fans a chance to own a genuine piece of pop music history.
Adams, the last man to own the club that made The Fab Four famous, emptied the venue's offices when it closed its doors in 1973.
Since then the unique pieces of memorabilia were lost amongst the items placed in storage.
Roy, who was involved in Liverpool's nightclub scene for more than 40 years, recently found the artefacts when he was sorting through packing cases.
And he has the hand-cast metal medallions - each of which is slightly different - framed with a reproduction Cavern poster and a signed certificate of authenticity.
Also twenty lucky friends and business associates have received one as a personal gift from Adams.
The medallions were brought-in as a replacement to membership cards used by the club during its heyday in the 1960's, when it played host to hundreds of musical stars, including legends such as The Beatles, The Who, The Searchers, Gerry & The Pacemakers and Cilla Black.
After a short while the membership cards were re-introduced and the medallions vanished into storage.
Adams, who began his career as a bouncer before becoming a club owner, said: "When the club closed down, I emptied an old dressing room that was full of stuff.
"The medallions must have been put in a box and lost amongst the other items.
"I recently found them in my shed, they must have been there since I moved in to my current house 26 years ago.
"The box had been ravaged by rats or squirrels or something, but the medallions were OK.
"They hadn't managed to chew through the disks or the leather straps they are carried on.
"At first I just thought they were just an interesting find, and I didn't realise that they would be so momentous.
"They were from before my time at the club, but I knew I should do something with them.
"I showed them to a neighbour of mine who is interested in this sort of thing, and mentioned that I was thinking of selling some.
"I didn't know how to value them or anything, I thought maybe they were worth about #50.
"But he reckoned in the right place they could fetch up to ten times that."
Former bodybuilder Roy originally tried to sell two of the medallions on eBay, but pulled them off the auction site after he received some negative comments about their authenticity.
Now each of the disks comes with its own certificate signed by Roy as proof of their origin, and he hopes this will enable him to sell the remaining disks.
He said: "I do want to sell them. I'm intending to put them into smaller display containers to make them easier to post to buyers.
"Fans of the Merseybeat era could be really interested in them.
"They are quite rare, the original membership cards were brought back after a short time because they were cheaper to make.
"So that adds to the rarity of these medallions."
Roy has come across a few other bits of interesting Cavern memorabilia whilst rooting through his shed.
They include a note from Bob Wooler, the late DJ who played at the Cavern when the Beatles first started and introduced them to their manager Brian Epstein.
Roy said: "I also found a note from Bob, written on a Cavern card. He was thanking me for all of my help with some shows he had been doing.
"It's very nice. I shall be holding on to that one."
Roy no longer has any connections with the Cavern, but says he has fond memories of his time there: "I had a good time at the club.
"I didn't want to leave but British Rail, who owned the building said they were taking it back over. They demolished the original building for a railway ventilation shaft.
"The building that stands today is a very good replica and it passes the health and safety regulations - something the original would not do these days.
"I have many good memories of my four years there.
"I hope there will be some interest in the medallions. I'm not sure how much they will get.
"It's up to people to write and make an offer. I just want to share this piece of history."
arthur Cartin, Australia around 4 months, 1 week ago