Australia's largest record collection up for sale, 80k in near mint

Saw this on the telly the other night. Shame it's all blue stuff.

 

I guarantee you that this collection will be split up at some point, even if they do find one person to buy it in it's entirety - that person is not going to want everything there. You can't put a sentimental value on "collections", unless you are a close family member of the deceased. Collections of material things are by their very nature, and our relative lack of longevity, meant to be split up.

 

Not meant. Doomed.

 

Doomed indeed.

 

But isn’t that the nature of things? Can’t take it with you. If dealers don’t split it up and resell it, other collectors will never have the opportunity to enjoy it.

 

No. It’s an expression of the collector. In this case from what I know, an aboriginal Australian with an obsession for quality music and a massive collection on a very low budget. It’s a life’s work and the family can not afford not to sell it. Way more to be gained from focussing on the collector and what he collected than from others picking ego pieces out of the rubble.

 

""Dad was from the UK originally "

 

My error I guess. I would not have thought that from the TV reports I saw locally. As for the rest - it makes no difference to my views.

 

Here's the instagram account they created to display some of the records: Ken Perkins Vinyl Collection (@thekenperkinscollection) • Instagram photos and videos

Trigger warning: there are records displayed on carpets with no protection between carpet and actual vinyl.

 

Wow he really did keep all that stuff in nice condition

 

This collection is Christie's, Bonham's, Sotheby's, etc., level , doubtful there will one single buyer, but assuredly there will be many many buyers.

 

The headache of taking this collection on would put most people in an early grave. Even the likes of Christie's would want this split into at least a few hundred lots at least.

 

Indeed, but that's exactly what they are paid to do.

She needs to get this appraised and insured, and not listen to any sweet talkers.

 

I agree but 80,000 records would be astronomically priced to appraise and an auction house would maybe refuse to list such a large collection.

 

In a collection of 80,000 records I would imagine less than 10,000 are actually worth that much.

 

True, but that's what they or someone else needs to do to assess/find out. This looks pretty high quality. Half may be singles. It seems quite organized I am sure any serious music fan could figure out general value and what direction to take. This doesn't seem like a hipster dollar bin 'archive' full of irony.

 

Not sure what you mean? 'Blue' in the US use to mean raunchy, I don't get that impression here. But, if so that would really limit the appeal to a very specific client.

 

I don't know if auction houses would take on such a huge collection, , but a company / shop thinking of buying the whole collection in order to resell the items individually would hardly pay more than $2-$5 per item , whereas a private collector would probably pay more - but hard to imagine a private collector willing to buy the whole lot , also considering the logistics involved, but you never know there are some wealthy people about and I'm sure a few record collectors amongst them.
If I were the family I'd give up my day job and sell the collection bit by bit and make a comfortable living from it (considering the collection is actually what it is supposed to be)

 

I don't think they would take it on and I also think a buy to sell would not want to appraise the entire collection but a sampling of it.

I think I agree about selling it bit by bit. If it were my burden to take on I would try to house it safely and securely, if I could do that then I would set about selling it a hobby for the extra income. I wouldn't step away from my day job though as this would soon run out or become tiresome.

 

I agree, this looks like a serious and well curated collection rather than a grab fest but as for value I think that would take months of careful research.

 

I wonder if they're all Aussie pressings. I don't know much about them, or if they're comparable to UK or US (depending on artist) pressings, sound-wise. I know a lot of US pressings of UK artists (and vice versa) are not well-regarded, so I imagine the same is true for a lot of Australian pressings, which may limit potential value to collectors.

Honestly, if it was me, I'd just find the largest record shop in the region, and have them deal with it. I'm sure a lot of indie shops would love to be able to sell this stuff. (this is actually what I've instructed my partner to do in case I get hit by a bus or something)

 

80.000 is a lot of records , enough to open your own shop - but as I said before if you sell the collection in one lot you are going to lose an awful lot of money..anyway , what is the current situation ? is it up for sale and has anyone named an asking price ?

 

I wouldn't expect the shop to buy the whole lot, but any serious store has at least a couple employees or owners who know their stuff, who could quickly separate the stuff worth selling from the rest. (As someone said, no matter how well-curated the collection may seem, probably well over half those LP's aren't worth much just due to lack of interest in the artist, condition, etc.). I see collections show up at used shops here now and then, and it's probably a good deal for both the family and the store.

 

an average of ca $ 12 with such a large amount of records is not bad

 

Amazing to be that thorough and organized. Best of luck to whoever gets to appraise them.
walrus-I'm new here and I see someone has already beaten me to my choice of avatar. Excellent choice!! Bruce forever!