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The trophy -- awarded for the band's 1987 album The Joshua Tree -- had split into three pieces including the gramophone horn. So the band's managers simply searched "trophy craftsmen" online and found Stuart Allcock, who runs a small shop in Taunton, Somerset.

Mr. Allcock said he felt "dizzy" to receive the call but was disappointed to discover the award was made of cheap cast iron that was sprayed gold.

The lifelong U2 fan, who went to a Joshua Tree gig in 1987 and another in 2001, said: "Taking the call was bizarre -- I though it might have been a joke and said: 'Is this Bono?'

"It turned out to be someone in their management team on the phone. I think it got broken pretty innocently, like someone dropped it or something like that. When it arrived with me it was broken into three pieces and looked a bit of a state."

It is not known how the award was damaged, but Mr. Allcock and his team at Alpha Trophies in Taunton, Somerset, took two weeks to repair it.

The gramophone had to be welded back on and other parts had to be glued together and resprayed.

Mr. Allcock described the work as "complex" and admitted that working on the famous trophy made him nervous.

He said: "I wanted to get it looking as good as new and after some skilled welding, the cast iron piece was completely re-sprayed. It was a bit nerve-wracking, especially when I had to give it to someone else to be welded, but I was pleased with the result."

Asked how much he thought the Grammy was worth, he said: "If it was just an award, not a Grammy and having been given to U2, I wouldn't pay more than a fiver for it. But as it stands, it's priceless."

© Telegraph, 2010.

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