We found old scrap fabric hidden in a charity shop – I found out it’s worth £20k thanks to series of words on the front
A BANNER that spent a decade collecting cobwebs in a charity shop has sold for an astonishing £20,000 after its historical significance was revealed.
The purple piece of fabric was hidden away in a filing cabinet at the Halton Moor and Osmondthorpe Project for Elders in Leeds.
But it has recently come to light that the banner is an important artefact in the women’s right-to-vote movement, with the words “Manchester – First in the fight – Founded by Mrs Pankhurst” planted on its cover.
Emmeline Pankhurst was a founding member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, according to parliament records.
A key figure in realising the right to vote for women in Britain, Pankhurst was in 1999 named by Time magazine as one of the top-100 most important people of the 20th century.
The banner was owned by Edna White and used at some of the biggest suffragette rallies in Manchester and London in the early 1900s.
It ended up tucked away in Leeds with a relative donating it to the charity following White’s death.
At a recent auction, a private collector purchased the banner for £13,000.
The People’s History Museum in Manchester then bought it off the collector for a massive £20,000.
Georgie Spedding, from the charity, told Leeds Live: “We had it in a filing cabinet for 10 years, not doing anything really.
“We weren’t aware of the monetary value of it and when we auctioned it, we thought it’d bring in about £500.
“We know the significance of the suffragettes and the Pankhurst movement … but we honestly didn’t know a great deal about (the banner).”
People’s History Museum curator Helen Antrobus told BBC Breakfast: “This is probably the most important suffrage object that has come out of the last decade.
“Even though it says 1903, it was made in 1908 and taken down to the Hyde Park rally in London which was the biggest rally so far of the suffragette movement.
“Most importantly it says first in the fight. That’s to say Manchester was the place that it all started.”
How to spot a valuable item in charity shops
Trash-to-treasure hunters should first identify which charity shops are the most likely to offer valuable items, according to zipsale.co.uk.
The website says these often include shops in wealthier areas, although they may charge a higher price.
Be a regular visitor, know about rotation times and don’t skip through any sections, the website advises.
sunny.co.uk says to make sure you search online for what an item is selling for to avoid buying a dud.
It also encourages bargain hunters to look in areas with a high population of retirement-age residents, because they are more likely to donate items they’ve held onto for decades.
Jewellery, vinyl records, ornaments, pictures and vintage toys are good areas to search for initially, sunny.co.uk says.