Got $3,000,000? Three million records, 300,000 CDs, more than 6 million song titles, and it's all for sale. "From Thomas Edison to American Idol, it's the complete history of the music that shaped five generations."
I once spent my student loan funds - an allotment meant to last an entire semester - on music. I picked up the check at the office, cashed it, then walked straight to Hillsborough Street (the strip adjacent to North Carolina State University) and dropped nearly all of it in record stores. There's nothing quite so humbling as calling your parents to beg for macaroni and cheese and meat because you ran out of Ramen. To this day, they remain ignorant to the reasons behind that desperate phone call, though I felt pangs of guilt every time they made a joke about the solid wall of CDs and records that had taken over my room.
When I decided to move from North Carolina to Tucson, culling the collection became a necessity, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever put myself through. It took days of Sophie's Choice-like agonizing before I could part with all but the most collectible of the vinyl and essential of the CDs. What I sold paid for my plane ticket, shipment of my belongings, and pocket change as I looked for a job. (Only then were my parent impressed.) I still feel the after effects - occasionally I'll walk over to the CDs, reach for an album, and realize I sold it. Sure, I could probably download it, but you can't slide a download on a shelf, can you?
The collecting bug has somewhat faded since marriage and bills entered the picture, but when I read about Paul Mawhinney, longtime publisher of the Music Master guide, and his quest to sell a half-century's worth of his personal passion, that old combination of envy and awe returned. "The World's Greatest Music Collection" is a document of Mawhinney's lifetime of record collecting, and it now has a price tag. Per his website, "advancing age, declining health and associated financial concerns" are forcing him to put the awe-inspiring collection - worth an estimated $50 million - up for sale.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the collection contains such rarities as a radio promo compilation of early Rolling Stones singles, a rare Phil Spector Christmas album, and 15 copies of the first edition of Elvis Presley's Christmas album. Those three titles alone could potentially fetch upwards of $12,000 in the collectors' market. Bidding for the whole shebang starts at $3 million.
What distinguishes Mawhinney is his commitment to preserving the collection intact. Instead of piece mealing the choicest cuts, he's making an open call for bidders who recognize the historical significance of his life's work. He wants the collection to be in a library or museum, where its sheer size and scope can be appreciated by future generations of music lovers. His reluctance to part with the hoard is palpable and, if you're a collector, you can't help but sympathize. But his "all or nothing" dedication is admirable, particular in a day and age where music's success and/or importance is measured in downloads and bitrates.
Good luck, Mr. Mawhinney.
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