It’s in mint condition mate, honest

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!

I belong to the blank generation

Bells Group – Kingston 13 (Blank) 1962
A lovely little number from the Bells group on a blank 7″ later to be released on the Prince Buster label in 1962. This excellent bit of Jamaican Shuffle/ RnB was found at the bottom of a box of extremely scratched singles in the back room of a Peckham nail bar for 50 pence. The same day I also picked up a copy of an early Wailers single on the Island label which in good nick would have been worth about thirty odd quid. The one I procured was so knackered, it looks like it’s been stood on a few times and even has a phone number scratched into the grooves. Not one to stick on the Bang & Olufsen!

http://soundcloud.com/weedsuptomeknees/bells-group-kingston-13-blank