BHF’s ‘Hall of Fame’ of donated items
Melanie May | 16 June 2023 | News
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has released a ‘hall of fame’ showcasing some of the best donations that have passed through its doors this year (plus a top one from 2019) and how much some of them have fetched for the charity.
It is encouraging people to both donate their unwanted items, and shop with charity shops over the summer months.
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The BHF’s top donated items include:
- THE BEATLES ‘Love Me Do’ 7 Inch DEMO PROMO ‘McArtney’ Spelling Parlo Rim
The record was donated in 2019 to the BHF Midhurst shop and sold on eBay for £9400. The winning bidder loaned it to The Beatles Museum where it is on display. This was the promotional record that made the Beatles famous and before this they were an unknown band even the spelling of Paul McCartney’s name is wrong and is printed “McArtney”.
- 18 carat Cartier Tank Française
The watch was donated to the BHF shop in Hounslow, west London in January this year, before making its way to the charity’s online eBay hub in Leeds for verification. The watch sold for £9,766.66, the highest selling item the BHF has sold.
- 1968 Beatles White album
At over 50 years old, this iconic album was donated to the BHF Sutton Coldfield in May 2023, complete with the original inserts, a foldout poster and four colour prints of the band. The 12-inch mono record has a low 4-digit number, 0004528, and includes a misprint only found in the first version of the record, of which there are only 10,000 in existence. The album sold for £2,350.
- Wurlitzer Music Jukebox C2 H70
This eye-catching, floor standing jukebox system was donated this May/June to the BHF home store in Harrow. Bids for this piece of history close at 21:16 today, Friday 16 June.
- Manchester United FC shirt, signed by Harry Maguire
When the shirt was first donated to the BHF shop in Manchester this Spring (February / March), the BHF shop team were unsure of its authenticity. However, when they were able to get it verified by the club, the shop team framed the shirt and auctioned it on eBay. After 17 bids, the shirt sold for £205.01.
The BHF is the largest charity retailer on eBay, selling over 440,000 items on the platform every year, and also sells via its online shop, as well as its charity shops.
Allison Swaine-Hughes, Retail Director at the BHF added:
“One of the many joys of shopping second hand with the BHF is not knowing what discoveries you’re going to make.
“Our hall of fame showcases the exceptionally wonderful items we have sold and we hope this inspires the public to shop preloved with the BHF this summer. We also hope this will encourage those who have any rare and unique pieces in need of a new home to donate it to us, to help fund ground breaking research.”
By shopping second hand with the BHF, the charity saves over 56,000 tonnes of goods from going to waste, and all the money raised helps the charity fund life saving research into heart and circulatory diseases.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.