The iconic purple and orange floorboards featured on the cover of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett‘s 1970 album “The Madcap Laughs” are coming to a St. Leonards, Hastings pub.
The boards were sold at auction in July. The seller had purchased the London flat where Barrett had painted them more than 50 years earlier ahead of a photo shoot by Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis and photographer Mick Rock.
Estimated to go for £10,000 (US $12,662), the winning bid was £28,500 (US $36,101). It was submitted by what Sussex World describes as “a consortium of Syd fans who pooled their own resources.”
Now the owners are loaning them to The Piper pub in East Sussex — named for Floyd’s debut album “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” — where they’ll be put on display.
A spokesperson for the pub quoted by Sussex World says, “A few bits appear to be missing, presumably damaged, but with the boards we do have, one idea is to lay some of them on top of our current stage, so artists will be able to perform on them.
“We are currently exploring how feasible this is as we still want to ensure they are protected in some way. Failing that, we will keep them together and place them somewhere else within the venue. We won’t be doing anything until we have assessed what is best for them.”
The boards are in somewhat dodgy condition. Some were apparently sawn in half to allow transportation after being removed from the London flat.
The location is fitting: Barrett’s last gig with Pink Floyd took place at nearby Hastings Pier in January 1968.
All Syd needed…was an exorcism. He wasn’t burned out, he was possessed.
I cant believe the price at the auction,goes to show you how much I know.I do hope they are preserved for a long time for others on down in time,to bad they had to be sawn in pieces, dont know if that would take away from it or not,but anyway congratulations to whomever are the new owners.
Interesting, so Syd painted the boards himself, selected the colors. I wonder did he purchase the paint himself. Was it mixed or was it stock colors.
It would have taken some doing to tape them off so as not to get out of line.
I wonder what Syd would have achieved if he’d stayed the course with Music.
Neat idea, glad they will be preserved, thanks for this story and uodate
That’s great news! Being that I am a musical performer from the Philadelphia Area. I would love to perform on those colorful boards when I go to perform as Djinn Magik, Philadelphia’s Master Painter of Sound in England for my first time.