Tag Archives: expensive vinyl

The Most Expensive Record Ever Sold? 1966 Velvet Underground and Nico Acetate

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velvet underground andy warhol 1966 acetateby Joe Wallace

Since I ran a feature on what could possibly be the world’s most ridiculously expensive record needles, it was only fitting that the world’s most expensive vinyl also get a look–after all, what do you play with a record needle that cost 20 thousand dollars? How about this acetate of The Velvet Underground And Nico, which sold on eBay for more than $25,000?

An acetate, for those who don’t know about the record production process, is pressed before the master is created so vinyl records can be mass produced. It’s used as a reference so an engineer can tell how all the duplicated vinyl records will sound once they roll out of the pressing plant.

According to the fascinating Popspike.com, this acetate of The Velvet Underground And Nico was successfully auctioned on ebay for $25,200 back in 2006, making this one of THE most expensive record sales ever, right next to a rare copy of Pink Floyd’s Meddle album pressed on blue vinyl for $12K and a “SEX PISTOLS – God Save the Queen – GENUINE A&M AMS7284!” for over 12,000 British pounds.

This Velvet Underground acetate looks to be the most likely candidate to be played with the most expensive record needle in the world.

Pricey Pleasures: A Huge Ever Growing Joy Division

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Pricey pleasures are the ones you know you SHOULDN’T purchase, but there you are, reaching for your wallet anyway. Today’s winner comes courtest of Eli.com, who at the time this is written have only one single, solitary copy of The Orb’s three-song 12-inch single for A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld. This would be the 1990 UK reissue 3-track 12″ vinyl single including Loving You Orbital Mix, Bucket & Spade Mix & Why Is Six Scared Of Seven. Final price for this tasty bit of Orb fun? More than $40 worthless US dollars after shipping.

My, oh, MY! That’s well above ten dollars per song. Granted, it’s an all-time favorite, but this is one instance where common sense seems to be winning out over my vinyl fetish. Besides, for about the same money I can pick up a Joy Division double album set of Martin Hannett’s personal mixes on 180 gram blue vinyl. Mmmmm, tasty.