Birmingham-designed punk jacket going up for auction

The Kahn & Bell jacket was valued at £400 to £600

A vintage punk-era jacket that was swapped among friends in 1979 could fetch hundreds of pounds at auction.

Thomas Lowbridge, from Stafford, gave a friend his denim jacket and got the tartan bondage jacket made by Birmingham designers Kahn & Bell in return.

In 2018 he took it on BBC's Antiques Roadshow where he it was valued at £400 to £600.

It will go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers in Staffordshire on 31 May.

Virginia Ewart, clothing valuer for the auction firm, said the Kahn & Bell fashion label had been established in 1976 in Hurst Street, Birmingham.

Mr Lowbridge, pictured in a jacket of a similar style, acquired the piece in 1979

"It was headed by Jane Kahn and Patti Bell who've been described as Birmingham's answer to Vivienne Westwood," she said.

"Their designs were ground-breaking, extravagant and outrageous. They're best known for their New Romantic style - they dressed bands including 80s pop icons Duran Duran."

Lead singer Simon Le Bon wrote the song Khanada about Jane Khan, added Ms Ewart.

"Thomas's punk jacket is exciting as it pre-dates this era. It was made in the first two or three years of the label's existence, before they opened a second boutique in London and reached a wider audience.

"It will be one of very few made."

The valuation was broadcast on Antiques Roadshow

Mr Lowbridge, 58, a retired building site labourer, took the jacket onto Antiques Roadshow when it visited the Black Country Living Museum and said he was "overwhelmed" by the valuation.

"It was definitely a good decision to swap it for the denim jacket," he said.

"I have an interest in vintage stuff and I'm always surprised to see things I remember as a child, like Chopper bikes and Matchbox cars, making money at auction.

"As I don't wear the jacket, I've decided to try my luck at auction."