World's Biggest Collection Still Unsold

[Ian Dewhirst]

Obviously worth buying for the archive value alone as only 17% of his collection has ever been reissued on CD, so anyone who bought his collection would kinda have a monopoly on providing a bespoke archive service in the future. But no one's interested apparently....it's really quite sad.....

Anyone wanna go halves?

Ian D

[Amsterdam Russ]

According to Wikipedia, this is the current state of play:

The most current plans for the archive have been enacted by William Vandendries, who has a strong family history connected either professionally or altruistically in music and/or the music industry. Vandendries, despite having a degree in aerospace engineering, decided to do something to save the collection by forming a non-profit organization, The Audio Preservation Fund, with the intent to open a museum, online database, and shopunder the name The Worlds Greatest Music Collection, while expanding the collection via both donations of records by individuals and by incorporating other major record collections from around the world.

The first step is to find half the $3 million asking price, mostly from donations and good will gestures from wealthier philanthropists, all within an eighteen month time-frame. Then approaching outside agencies for grants to finance the building of the museum, with the location yet to be decided. At the same time, the mammoth task of cataloguing all the duplicates in the collection and making them available for sale is being undertaken to aid raising the initial sum, and which will be continued as part of the finished museum to help keep it funded in the longterm.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record-Rama

[Garswood]

wow, you'd need months to go thru that lot, i wonder if he's got a copy of alice clark that i keep missin' on ebay, very sad that he's had no interest, $3 million is very cheap especially when its valued at $50 million, unfortunatley my wages as a tanker driver dont stretch that far, but if my numbers come up tomorrow.....well you never know:rolleyes:

[Ian Dewhirst]

Presumably this has been picked through I take it? If he did actually keep one of everything then I assume he'd have most of the major label stuff wouldn't he?

Someone must have got to it surely....?

Ian D

[Guest john s]

It's been well-known and picked over for years, according to a thread on Waxidermy last year!

[Amsterdam Russ]

As the Wikipedia text points out, there are countless duplicates in this archive...

[Ulrich Leitl]

was badly ripped off by a german ebay seller using the photo from the mentioned collection when it was on ebay.com:

My link

[Baz Atkinson]

some of the big popcorn collectors have been in also-does make you wonder however-not only a culturaly significant collection but you just would of thought that if it is only 17% then why have a major not been in ? i use the term major losely because their core business is signifantly different now-if the dollar was say 4-1 then i would of swooped in lol shame it isnt 1982 and i have the money i have now lol!!

BAZ A.

[Diggin' Dave]

This story has been doing the rounds on the internet for a while now and everyone that has seen the collection has told that it's a huge pile of junk. And how did he manage to conclude that 17% of his collection was reissued on cd?

[Kegsy]

Presumably this has been picked through I take it? If he did actually keep one of everything then I assume he'd have most of the major label stuff wouldn't he?

Someone must have got to it surely....?

Ian D

I dealt with Paul for many years over the net and bought some

incredible stuff off him. I have also been knocked back by him on hundreds of top sounds as he only

had his "arcchive" copy left.

He's top guy and always a pleasure to deal with.

Its actually criminal that his collection is not

seen as some kind of American National Treasure.

Kegsy

[funkyfeet]

This story has been doing the rounds on the internet for a while now and everyone that has seen the collection has told that it's a huge pile of junk. And how did he manage to conclude that 17% of his collection was reissued on cd?

How anyone can say a million 45's is junk is daft, it may not be the music you are interested in but from a historic point of view it's a treasure. Taking that there's no doubles, to actually listen to them at a average 2 mins a side would take you 7.6 years non-stop,

[Ian Dewhirst]

I dealt with Paul for many years over the net and bought some

incredible stuff off him. I have also been knocked back by him on hundreds of top sounds as he only

had his "arcchive" copy left.

He's top guy and always a pleasure to deal with.

Its actually criminal that his collection is not

seen as some kind of American National Treasure.

Kegsy

Interesting Kegsy. I spoke with someone earlier today who scoured the store and archive about 8 years ago and reckoned that there wasn't that much great stuff there. Certainly they got multiples of lots of mid-range titles but didn't see too much to get excited about even on his own 'last copies'. They reckoned $300,000 would be nearer the mark. They also didn't reckon that it could be described as an archive but rather simply as a large record shop stock. They did say that there were nice promos in there but really nothing to get over-excited about apparently.

You probably got there first mate!

Ian D

[Ian Dewhirst]

How anyone can say a million 45's is junk is daft, it may not be the music you are interested in but from a historic point of view it's a treasure. Taking that there's no doubles, to actually listen to them at a average 2 mins a side would take you 7.6 years non-stop,

Has anyone out there got a spare 7.6 years they wanna flog?

Ian D

[Chris Anderton]

I have been to this guys place in Pittsburg (i think). He is well known. You cant actually look at anything but you can give him lists and he looks it up on the computer, if he has a spare he will let it go, usually at some well over the top price. Not everything is mint as he claims, i have had records out of there in vg condition.

He is full of his own importance, loves showing you the press articles that have been done on him in the past.

I dont know of anybody who has been allowed to look behind the desk. There must be good stuff in there but lets just say he is prone to a bit of exageration on the value of what he has.

Chris.

[Glynthornhill]

Extensively covered on Us sites Waxidermy , and Soul Strut respectively.

The collection has been well viewed and appraised frequently over the last few years. As our Us counterparts call it ' plenty of turds ' in the masses.

As he is unlikely to break it up we will never know the true facts of whats in ? Doubt he will find a buyer at those prices either ... could be the longest running Ebay item on and off like a pros knick knacks .....

[davidwapples]

if you dont know what is in it its like a giant soul pack , need a treble euromillians lottery roll over so i still got millions in the bank then lets see lol

[Guest]

Obviously worth buying for the archive value alone as only 17% of his collection has ever been reissued on CD, so anyone who bought his collection would kinda have a monopoly on providing a bespoke archive service in the future. But no one's interested apparently....it's really quite sad.....

Ian D

Correct me if I am wrong,

I think he stated 17 per cent of his vinyl from 1930 something to 1950 something had not been re-issued.

These are the years that vinyl / shellac was produced with a fervour in the USA but mainly today has no market, so they would not be re-released on CD.

There are tons of old storage facilities in the USA full of early 50s country and western vinyl.

does any body want it ?

If he says he has a library copy of every 45 ever produced then fair play if he has.

I just cant see it myself.

Edited September 9, 2010 by mossy

[Tricky]

visited this guy many times when he was above the post office on McKnight.Tons of stuff to be had prettyb reasonably at the time.He had Yellow page type books printed up.one by artist and one by song title if my memory serves.he will have an archive copy of everything he has but he is really in dreamland and has been for a few years.

[Dave Thorley]

Trouble with this guy and many like him is he got to emotionally involved in the records as a collection and as such see every thing at a retail/collectors value. I have a buddy in Louisville, he has a great 45 and lp collection, all R&B and Blues. He wants to sell it as a single sale, but he is never gonna get what he wants for it. When he talks about whats in there he gets all emotional and say this books at this and this books at that, his valuations are all top of the market.

As someone else said there are lots of big stocks of records dotted round the states, but they will never sell at the prices these guys value them at. I was shown a collection in Atlanta of over 2million 45's, in an air condition facility, ever thing filed. But the guy was talking about numbers that would make a banker go weak.

In the end when these guys die they get broken up and sold for peanuts buy family members who don't know or care.

[Dave Thorley]

PS, if he cares that much about it, he could donate the collection free to The Smithsonian

[Chris Anderton]

Trouble with this guy and many like him is he got to emotionally involved in the records as a collection and as such see every thing at a retail/collectors value. I have a buddy in Louisville, he has a great 45 and lp collection, all R&B and Blues. He wants to sell it as a single sale, but he is never gonna get what he wants for it. When he talks about whats in there he gets all emotional and say this books at this and this books at that, his valuations are all top of the market.

As someone else said there are lots of big stocks of records dotted round the states, but they will never sell at the prices these guys value them at. I was shown a collection in Atlanta of over 2million 45's, in an air condition facility, ever thing filed. But the guy was talking about numbers that would make a banker go weak.

In the end when these guys die they get broken up and sold for peanuts buy family members who don't know or care.

............

So true. Great post Dave.

Chris

[Amsterdam Russ]

In the end when these guys die they get broken up and sold for peanuts buy family members who don't know or care.

Yup, and that applies to everyone here!

[Guest Dante]

OMG, I just saw the short film. Talk about emotional blackmailing. The guy thought he was doing Schindler's List or something. As Dave said, if what's on his mind is preserving the collection, he could've donated it ages ago.

[boba]

OMG, I just saw the short film. Talk about emotional blackmailing. The guy thought he was doing Schindler's List or something. As Dave said, if what's on his mind is preserving the collection, he could've donated it ages ago.

this video first was released when he was actively trying to sell his collection and there were news stories about it. what's funny was that a news story actually pointed out that his "$6,000-$10,000" rolling stones record was available sealed BIN on ebay at the same time for $600.

[Guest]

this video first was released when he was actively trying to sell his collection and there were news stories about it. what's funny was that a news story actually pointed out that his "$6,000-$10,000" rolling stones record was available sealed BIN on ebay at the same time for $600.

Lets face it

I think certain uk dealers would have negotiated something with this guy years ago if he was business minded .

I am in no doubt that there are amazing records in that collection.

But you are not going to purchase millions of country and rock records just to obtain a few thousand soul 45s are you ?

and here is the dilemma.

[Kris Holmes]

It has definitely been cherry picked many times & ain't worth what he's asking. He is in dreamland. Low to mid level titles for days.

[Mrtag]

Touching story! But a lot of money for what could be a lot of junk with some nice tasty bits!!

[Djmelismo]

When this guy pulls out a record he puts his thumb/fingers on the vinyl in a way that I´ve never seen a proper record collector/dealer do! Don´t want any greasy fingermarks on the record that I´m going to play.

Also, his record collection can´t be worth that much if nobody is willing to pay. The value is decided in the interplay between what the seller think it´s worth and what the buyer is willing to put in, so he either has to lower his price or donate the collection if it is the preservation aspect that is most dear to him.

[Gene-r]

this video first was released when he was actively trying to sell his collection and there were news stories about it. what's funny was that a news story actually pointed out that his "$6,000-$10,000" rolling stones record was available sealed BIN on ebay at the same time for $600.

Which leads me to believe that not only is he emotional about his records - he's also completely deluded and needs to get real, if he expects to be taken seriously.