Beatles poster and rugby shirt among highlights of an auctioneer’s 60-year career

A North Wales auctioneer who began his career in the 1970s has shared photos of some of the highlights that have come under his hammer: the poster from a concert by The Beatles in Llandudno in 1963 which was snapped up by a fan.

The lots gave David Rogers Jones some of his fondest memories during a career born from humble beginnings and which today welcomes digital bidders sending in their offers remotely into empty salerooms during the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Rogers Jones is a senior partner at Rogers Jones & Co in Colwyn Bay, which has expanded into Cardiff and most recently into Carmarthenshire.

David said: “I am now in my 60th year as an auctioneer. Our saleroom in Colwyn Bay town centre has operated for nearly thirty years and continues to do so.Buyers come from as far afield as Vietnam, South Korea, Russia and Tasmania.”

The family’s older son John, opened new shops for them in Bangor and Dublin, also joined Rogers Jones in Colwyn Bay as auctioneer and overall accountant for the company.
Then The Beatles poster came up.
Said David: “In 2017, the sister of the much-loved Welsh singer, Mary Hopkin called at the Cardiff saleroom to ask if we would auction some of the dresses she’d worn at various gigs and also a poster given to Mary by the Beatles.
“It advertised the group’s only appearance ever in Wales at the Odeon Theatre in Llandudno in 1963 when one of the supporting acts was Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas.
“It was decided to offer the dresses for sale in Cardiff where they duly sold well, and the poster in Colwyn Bay due to the local Llandudno connection. Inevitably, the interest was huge with the poster selling to an American collector for £28,000!”