British museum buys Rolling Stones' lips artwork
By Associated Press
Sep 2, 2008 3:32 AM CDT

Mick Jagger's pout is officially fit for a museum.

London's Victoria and Albert Museum announced Tuesday that it bought the original artwork for The Rolling Stones' famous "lips" logo, inspired by the singer's mouth.

The museum said it bought the work at an auction in the United States for $92,500.

The lips-and-tongue logo was designed by London art student John Pasche in 1970, and first used on the band's "Sticky Fingers" album the next year.

The design "is one of the first examples of a group using branding, and it has become arguably the world's most famous rock logo," said Victoria Broakes, head of exhibitions for the museum's theater and performance collections.

Pasche told The Guardian newspaper that the idea for the logo came "when I met Jagger for the first time at the Stones' offices.

"Face to face with him, the first thing you were aware of was the size of his lips and his mouth," Pasche was quoted as saying. He said he would use the money from the sale to send his 11-year-old son to private school.