World's Greatest Music Collection For Sale

This is just fishy to me. You expect people to bid on a huge collection without knowing what's actually in there?
And his answer to the UK Vinyl Factory is a laugh riot. "millions of song titles" - he seems to be pre-occupied with telling us how many songs there are. Well, yes, I can do math. The UK guy asked a legitimate request - what vinyl titles are there?
It would really surprise me if anyone dares to bid.

 

Spending millions on something without a definite idea about what's in it or it's condition is a bit strange. Given it is likely quite an amazing collection.

 

The seller has no way of knowing what you're looking for specifically, and he's said more than once that if you're interested in bidding on the collection you should come out and see it yourself.

We already know from a few posts that he's at least 'eccentric'. He's apparently not in good health, maybe needs $, and wants to sell quickly rather than do the work that selling a collection like this really requires.

Ideally a museum should buy it, but is there a museum of sound recordings that can afford to acquire it? I wonder if the Smithsonian has already turned it down.

 

Watch out!! "The World's #1 Audiophile" may be putting in a bid!!

 

Based on what I've read it's hard to discern if this apparently irrascible fellow is running this auction or if he's got a hired wise-a-s to answer questions. If I were so flush I'd want to spend a LOT of time inspecting, and have a lot of 'expert' help with me. I wonder if the promised guided tour would be so thorough. The numbers are pretty simple, the bid is the maximum loss here, assuming little if any storage overhead. It would take time and effort and cheap help but I'm convinced money could be made.
No, am not that flush.

 

Back when they were over the post office on McKnight Road, it was a great place to browse & shop, with some very nice employees so you didn't generally have to deal with the owner.

When they moved to Rt. 19 (admittedly not their idea; the PO needed the space), it went downhill fast. I've been in there twice in the past 5 years, left empty-handed both times, and will likely never go back.

 

Digital preservation would be fine were it not for the fact that CDs have a life-span of just 15 to 20 years. In a few short years, the information on your CDs will just begin to disappear. Forever.

Still waiting here... opcorn:

 

You shouldn't say that CD's have a life span of just 15 to 20 years like it's a fact. I've got plenty of CD's more than 20 years old and out of the 700+ CD's I have not ONE of them has experienced any sort of rot.

This looks like a nice collection. I'm sure anyone serious about purchasing it would make the trip to check it out and would probably think it's a bargain.

 

What makes you say the box sets are worthless? Is it due to the way they are stored (flat)?

Why do you think it's "junk"? Or are you just being flip?

-s1m0n-

 

I was only at the location above the post office. Expensive...if I recall.

I always liked Jerry's much better!!

 

I've seen quiet a lot of used record stores with plenty of junk. Especially the box sets of LPs. If they were worth something, they would have been SOLD a long time ago.

 

That's a Nat King Cole album he's holding? Here I thought it was a title card to the Brady Bunch!

 

Hold me back...someone

 

I thought it must be your collection at first, Dennis!

The seller claims the collection consists of "3 million records and 300,000 CDs" and then goes on to say that "Every recording in the collection was purchased by the collection's owner over the past fifty years". Well, that equates to just over 180 LPs or CDs every day on average. Presumably some days the collector didn't buy any items and on others they bought thousands of items. This implies that there was not a lot of discretion involved in the purchases - ie the collection is full of crap.....

 

Here's the story from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

Record collection of records for sale
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In the market for 3 million records? You have until 6 p.m. tomorrow to bid on the Record Rama collection on eBay.

Paul Mawhinney, owner of the Ross-based store, has his archive -- billed as the "The World's Greatest Music Collection" -- up for auction with a starting bid of $3 million.

Mawhinney, 68, has tried to sell it before, but now he's more determined than ever.

"I want to retire," he says. "I'm legally blind and I had a couple strokes four years ago. My vision is really getting to be a problem. And the record industry also has changed. Kids are used to downloading stuff. The world's changed."


http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08050/858677-100.stm

 

I'm sure there are some rarities in there - if someone could take the collection apart and sell those piecemeal it'd probably be more than 3 mil.

 

On his site, he claims the collection is worth $50 million.

 

Well, the starting bid is $3,000,000 BUT I can see directly below the bidding box that I can save $10 by applying for an Ebay Mastercard. Now, $3 mil is a bit rich for my blood, but $2,999,990? Hmmm, not bad, not bad...

 

Quantity not quality...

 

Here's a more detailed article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

North Hills treasure trove of music goes up for sale on eBay
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
Paul Mawhinney examines a Rolling Stones album he said is worth $10,000 at Record Rama in Ross.

It started with a 1951 Frankie Laine single called "Jezebel." From there, Paul Mawhinney's obsession grew into the 3 million records that now fill the Record Rama archives.

When the clock strikes 6 p.m. tomorrow, it may be out of his hands and on the way out of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Mawhinney has put what he calls "The World's Greatest Music Collection" -- bigger than the one at the Library of Congress -- up for auction on eBay. He is selling the collection, housed in his store below a strip mall in Ross, as one unit with a starting bid of $3 million.

Mr. Mawhinney estimates the value at $50 million and said that CD Now nearly bought it for $28.5 million earlier in the decade, just before stock in the online Web site plummeted. He added that over the years, the Library of Congress and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum have both expressed interest in the collection.

But, between the digital revolution and the shrinking population of oldies collectors, the retail record industry is dying fast and a lot of the old-timers just want out.

Mr. Mawhinney, 68, said he's more determined than ever now to sell.

"I want to retire. I'm legally blind and I had a couple strokes four years ago. My vision is really getting to be a problem. And the record industry also has changed. Kids are used to downloading stuff. The world's changed."

The name Record Rama doesn't even do justice to the seemingly endless aisles of Mr. Mawhinney's vault, each longer than a bowling alley. It's more like Record Nirvana. It has just about anything you'd want -- in bulk.

You can stop and count 29 copies of Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" and more than a dozen of the Velvet Underground debut with the banana cover designed by Andy Warhol.

The rarest piece is a Rolling Stones record of early mono singles, remastered in stereo for FM radio stations. Mr. Mawhinney said only 300 copies were made, and it's worth up to $10,000. The original pressing of Elvis Presley's first Christmas album, which comes with photo booklet gatefold, is worth $700. He has 17 copies.

Just the other day, Mr. Mawhinney said, he came across a '60s soul single, which are all the rage right now, in his collection that is listed for $500 in Canada.

One of the things that separates Mr. Mawhinney, who opened his store in 1968, from most collectors/retailers is his meticulous archiving. In 1983, he published a two-volume Music Master discography that became a reference book for the industry and drew the praise of Dick Clark. Now, he has nearly 1 million records archived on an electronic database.

"I want to keep the collection together," he said. "It's my life's work."

Mr. Mawhinney's rare combination as collector, retailer and archivist is mind-blowing to colleagues such as Jerry Webber of Jerry's Records in Squirrel Hill and Val Shively of Val's Records in Philadelphia.

"I have a computer that sits on my shoulders," said Mr. Shively. "It's called my head. I don't even know how to get onto a computer."

Mr. Webber and Mr. Shively both talk of having warehouses full of boxes and not even knowing what's in them. That's partly why it's hard to back up Mr. Mawhinney's claim of having the world's largest collection. The other collectors aren't entirely sure what they have.

Mr. Webber, a vinyl-only dealer who built some of his collection from Record Rama, estimated he has around 1.7 million records. Mr. Shively claims to have more than 4 million records, with the world's largest collection of 45s. Craig Moerer of Records by Mail in Portland, Ore., claims more than 2 million records.

Mr. Webber recently tried to unload his whole collection for $400,000 but couldn't get it. Part of what makes Mr. Mawhinney's vault so valuable is that he never sold the last copy of a record, so it is filled with rarities.

Mr. Webber and Mr. Shively both doubt that anyone in this country is going to come forward with the asking price. "I think he'll get between $3 million and $5 million," Mr. Webber said. "It'll be someone overseas, who will have it shipped there. They're really into these records in London, Germany, Japan. They'll buy it and make millions on it."

"I know there are bidders," Mr. Mawhinney said. "A guy in Germany went to the bank [Monday] to get money. There's a guy in London, too."

Mr. Mawhinney regretted seeing the collection leave the city and said he tried to get local politicians and foundations interested in raising the money to keep it here, but got very little response.

David Grinnell, chief archivist at the Senator John Heinz History Center, said the collection is too broad for their interests. "We're more concerned with local materials than national. Tony Bennett's first album doesn't fit with our collection policy."

Even though Mr. Mawhinney's collection lived here for the past 40 years, people never had full access to it at Record Rama. The vault was kept in the back of the 16,000-square-foot space, closed to browsers. Between that and Record Rama's higher prices, Mr. Webber said, a lot of collectors didn't shop there.

Mr. Mawhinney said that when the right bid comes through, he'll let go of every last piece -- even his private collection, which long ago was absorbed into the archive.

"I had a wonderful life doing what I've done. I've lived a full life. I have three children and five grandchildren."

If all goes well tomorrow, they can expect new houses and healthy college funds. And, for that, they can thank Grandpa, Frankie Laine and Jezebel.
Scott Mervis can be reached at [email protected] or 412-263-2576.
First published on February 20, 2008 at 12:00 am


http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08051/858776-388.stm

 

That only applies to the rare LPs in the back room. When I went there looking at CDs a few years ago, it was like every other store I had been to. No problems.

 

Please forgive me if this has already been mentioned somewhere, but is this stuff used or sealed? If used, who's to say the condition of the individual albums? And if sealed, who's to say they're not warped to the point of being unplayable?

Is there REALLY a Rolling Stones album worth $10,000??? I thought only the Beatles butcher covers fetched near that price.

 

NPR did a piece on this Tuesday the 19th, on All Things Considered. With that kind of listenership there should be a bid or two. If not he has it over valued.

 

(Enter US $3,000,000.00 or more)
Get $10 back on this item

I did not notice this fantastic offer before. You mean if I bid 3 million US now I can get $10 US back immediately. THAT changes everything, where do I bid?

 

Yes. They are in a very ugly location in a third-rate strip mall.

I can't correct you. I never had a positive experience with him. He must have spent all of his joy on those records, because he had very little for the customers. He had/has staff though as mentioned by elborak. His wife worked there, and so did his daughter and at least one son.

That's probably why it's worth a lot of money. People haven't had their grubby hands all of the records. It takes all the fun out of it of course. When he was at the post office, in the beginning, he had a big display of LPs one could browse through. Obviously, it was only a slice of the entire collection, which was, as it still is, off limits. However... for a while there, you could rent albums from the backroom collection. It cost about $10, if I remember correctly. I rented a bunch of rare stuff and taped it. Records on the floor could be rented really cheaply. Then he moved all the records off the floor and put out cds. It was still okay though. He almost always had a good selection. It went downhill with the move.

Same here, and the fact is, there is no reason to buy there. All of his prices are outlandish. Granted, most, if not close to all, of his records are in really good shape. However, they were still more expensive than the same thing on ebay, or a couple of the other local record retailers.

I'll tell you what else. If you were looking for something that wasn't in that damn book he wrote, then it didn't exist. He'd get very haughty about it too. He'd tell you it was a bootleg or simply deny it's existence. Now there were some times when I knew that particular records existed (which I later found), and even brought in proof in the form of pictures, record label, serial number, references in official discographies. And you know what? It didn't exist.

I disagree. It's mostly quality at a very high price. Actually, I tried to sell him a couple of records that were in very good shape and he turned them down because they didn't sound good enough.