The V&A Museum has paid slightly over £50,000 at auction for the original drawings of the Rolling Stones logo, devised by British designer John Pasche in 1970, it announced last night.

Pasche was studying at London’s Royal College of Art when Stones frontman Mick Jagger, disappointed by the designs put forward by record label Decca, began looking for a design student to help create a logo.

The logo was commissioned for £50, but the Rolling Stones were so pleased with the design they gave Pasche a bonus of £200.

Pasche had already decided to sell the drawing at a US auction house when the V&A enquired about borrowing it for an exhibition. On learning the work was for sale, the museum lodged a winning bid of $92,500 on Saturday, half of which was provided by the Art Fund charity.

The inspiration for the eventual logo, which took Pasche around two weeks of work, has never been in doubt.

“I wanted something anti-authority, but I suppose the mouth idea came from when I met Jagger for the first time at the Stones’ offices. I went into this sort of wood-panelled boardroom and there he was. Face to face with him, the first thing you were aware of was the size of his lips and his mouth.”

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