Inflatable Pink Floyd pig -'Algie' saved from auction (Photo : REUTERS/PAUL HACKETT)
English rock band Pink Floyd's famous floating pig called "Algie" has been saved from the auction block in the United Kingdom after it was put up mistakenly for sale having spent years in a storage facility.
According to the BBC the inflatable animal has been offered back to band members who are said to be eager to take their mascot back home.
Standing at 40-feet once fully inflated the animal featured on the cover of the band's 1977 album titled "Animals." The inflatable structure has been known more famously for delaying flights at Heathrow Airport and on one occasion when it broke loose from its fastening at London's Battersea Power Station in 1976.
The inflatable animal was later recovered from an open field in Kent and having floated about at several concerts of the band, the structure has since been retired to a facility in Suffolk which belongs to Air Artists.
According to Contact Music, a replica was made of the inflatable structure in the 80s following a tear in the original which was thereafter condemned. The orginal inflatable structure was mistakenly put up for sale after Air Artists provided auctioneers with a list of everything they had in their workshop.
The second inflatable pig - a replica of the original is still set to go under the hammer to be held by Durrants on Sept. 15, along with other memorabilia made for legends such as The Rolling Stones and AC/DC.
Robin Harries at Air Artists said when the company made the replica he decicided to hang on to the old inflatable structure. He said auctioneers went ahead and publicized that Pink Floyd's pig could be one of the items to be auctioned.
Harries said he felt he should offer the pig back to the band and added that the band is keen to "welcome it home again."
