Idolator
After putting his six-million-song music collection on eBay and getting burned by a fake bidder, Pittsburgh rare-music collector Paul Mawhinney is once again trying to unburden himself of the 45s, LPs, and other pieces of recorded music he's amassed over the years via auction. But this time, he's switched up two key details: First, Mawhinney is letting registered buyers browse through his online database of music, which outlines the market value of each item (only 45s are in it now, but he's currently adding his long players to the site as well); and second—and perhaps most crucially—he's given up on the idea of selling the collection to someone who will keep it intact as a museum piece, thus allowing anyone who wants to turn around and open a rare record store of their own into the fray. [Official site; HT Listening Post]
everything must go (for real this time)
Gigantic Music Collection Heads Back To The Auction Block
5:30 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
By Maura Johnston
491 views
2 comments
Comments
This story is so funny. Dude could have sold this years ago to the Library of Congress, kept it intact and gotten $12 mil (IIRC.) Only problem was, at the time he was still holding to his estimation (this guy writes price guides, remember) of a $50 mil value and turned his nose up at that.
Here he is, a few years later and he can't get anyone to touch it for the "bargan" price of $3 mil. And, despite it not selling last time for that much, they are starting it at $3 million again and not breaking it up into lots again.
I'm a hardcore record geek and I'm convinced this collection isn't all that hot. It's got to be quantity over quality otherwise someone would have scooped it up by now. Dude's been trying to sell this thing for four or five years and it seems like the only one convinced of it's value is him.
I like what Captain Wrong has to say. Besides, who can afford an LP collection numbering 6 million songs in this recession? Ha!
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