Ray Swinfield: Penny Lane player's collection sells for nearly £50k

Penny Lane was released as a double A-side by The Beatles in February 1967

Instruments owned by a jazz flautist who played for The Beatles raised nearly £50,000 at auction.

Ray Swinfield's solid silver Haynes flute, heard on the band's 1967 single Penny Lane, sold for £6,572 in Corsham, Wiltshire.

Auctioneer Jamie South, of Gardiner Houlgate auctioneers called the sale a "resounding success" with most lots raising "well over estimate".

Mr Swinfield also played on the 1970s BBC children's programme Mr Benn.

The entire collection was sold on behalf of Mr Swinfield's wife, and Mr South said the family were "very happy" with the results which far exceeded most published estimates.

"[This is] very often the way when backed by such interesting provenance", he added.

The flute was sold as part of Mr Swinfield's extensive instrument collection

The sale attracted bids online and telephone bids and was "very well attended with numerous people in the room", Mr South added.

A Gemeinhardt piccolo flute, which was also played on Penny Lane - which the Beatles released in 1967 as a double A-side with Strawberry Fields Forever - sold for £2,528.

A solid silver Brannen-Cooper flute owned by Mr Swinfield, who died in October 2019 at the age of 79, sold for £7,584.