Lips Go For 50,000 Smackers

The original artwork for The Rolling Stones’ famous lips and tongue logo was purchased by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum for a little more than £50,000.

The iconic design, which the V&A’s Victoria Broakes described as “arguably the world’s most famous rock logo,” was originally created in 1970 by artist John Pasche, who was paid £50 for allowing the act to use it.

Having seen its impact, the Stones were so impressed they gave him a £200 bonus in 1972. He’s now sold it for £51,375 ($92,500).

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

He went to see Pasche’s degree show, which eventually led to the pop art design that was first used on the band’s Sticky Fingers album in 1971.

The Stones continued to use the image on backdrops and tour merchandising for the next three decades.

The logo is said to represent Jagger’s famous lips and the band’s rebellious edge.

Pasche went on to design a series of Stones tour posters during the 1970s and early ’80s. He later worked with other musicians including Paul McCartney and The Who, and later became art director at United Artists, Chrysalis Records and London’s South Bank Centre.