We’ve just looked at that John Peel auction that Gerry Hectic alerted us to last month (original post here), that had a couple of lots which contained our fanzine Ded Yampy. Looks like they’ve been sold! £190 and £140 (above) but that’s nothing compared to a John Lennon signed LP for £10,000 (below). Who’s got the money for that?
We’re now thinking of getting into the auction game ourselves and our first “lot” will be the 30 or so reggae 12″ers we found at a south London market last year. We were so excited with finding them we put on a poker face while flicking through the boxes as not to alert the seller/other record hunters that we had found some gems (or so we thought).
We omitted to check the condition of the records at the time as we were so excited. On the bus home we took a look and were shocked to see how bad they were. We learned a lesson that day, check the condition! Even a good clean didn’t help (above).
That is nothing compared to the time we popped out for a pint of milk and came back 2 hours later relieved of £20 but the owner of some great rare old reggae sevens procured from the back of a Peckham nail bar that once been a record shop. Our excuse this time was that the lighting was dim in there so didn’t look too hard at the actual vinyl. More likely our eyes and brain were on dimmed if you have a look at this one from The Wailers (above). There’s even a phone number scratched into the other side. Check before you buy, excitement or no excitement!
Weeds up to me knees 
For the avoidance of doubt, I didn’t bid on any lots and was not in receipt of any/hidden commission. I hear someone paid £10,000 (plus commission and fees) for a U2 12″! Hope it wasn’t scratched.
I hope so too, not for that price. Those hidden fees probably added up to a lot Gerry!
I will never forget that, at the time of the so-called “ska revival” aka 2tone, I would peruse the junk shops, particularly in Hillfields and Holbrooks (as this type of emporia were virtually non-existent in my manor, Foleshill), hoping to to procure one or two old Bluebeat tunes from yesteryear. However, my expeditions were somewhat frustrating as any tunes I did chance upon were scratched to f*ck or similarly abused. Why would anyone treat vinyl with such disdain? Some of them resembled frisbees that been hurled around the concrete surroundings of the local housing state! Shocking doesn’t come close…
That’s it Milan, why would people treat records like that? The best shop was the one we called “John’s” ran by a big guy with a beard in Hillfields and he had wardrobes upstairs and an alsation as a guard dog. Got some good stuff there but all scratched to buggery.
Quite…