A NINE-MINUTE tape of Frank Sinatra talking and singing could be worth a fortune to a North-East man who bought it at a car boot sale for £10.

Found in a box of odds and ends in Newcastle, experts say it could be worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The owner, known only as Ian, and who lives in the city, played it to David Harper, an antiques expert who lives at Lartington, near Barnard Castle, while he was hosting a show on Radio Newcastle.

Mr Harper said: “This is an absolutely staggering find. It was recorded in secret many years ago. Frank Sinatra can be heard chatting and then singing a lovely song, East of the Sun, in his own special way. There are some copyright problems with it, but I am certain that if it came up at a leading auction in London, it would sell for tens of thousands. Ian would become a wealthy man.”

He knows the full name and address of the owner, but has promised not to reveal it, and said: “He does not want people knocking on his door and asking to hear the tape.”

The man bought it more than ten years ago. After playing the tape, which has Sinatra marked on it, he gave it to his father-in-law, a big fan of the crooner. On the tape, Sinatra can be heard talking to his band during rehearsals. It was only recently that the buyer decided to call the radio show to see if it was worth anything.

Mr Harper posted a short piece about it, with a few seconds of the song, on the You Tube website.

But the following day, he received a warning from Sheffield Inc, in the US, a family organisation that controls Sinatra material.

He said: “They said in no By Jim McTaggart jim.mctaggart@nne.co.uk uncertain terms that it had to be removed from You Tube, so it was taken off immediately.

“It is a huge organisation with a lot of power, so I do not want to get mixed up in any legal action.”

He is now finding out if the tape can be sold legally and, if so, how the owner can get the most from it. A similar tape featuring the Beatles once sold for £10,000.

Mr Harper, who used to have an antiques showroom in Barnard Castle, but who now operates from home and concentrates on media work, said: “The person who made the recording is heard saying he shouldn’t be doing it, but the fact remains that this is a genuine piece of work by Sinatra, a unique piece never before heard by the public, so, by any standard, it must be worth a great deal of money.”