by 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.