Do you want the World’s Greatest Music Collection?

By Michael Roffman on February 21st, 2008

There’s a goal in the sick, obsessive world of record collectors everywhere. The idea of attaining a personal, musical nirvana. The conclusion of one’s music collection. Some people stop, some people keep going. Most never reach the top. In what might be considered a story of fiction any other day, one Ebay seller is making it a reality: the world’s greatest music collection.

And he’s selling it all away.

In “The Most Viewed and Watched Listing Ever on Ebay”, one person’s musical collection of 3 million records and 300, 000 CDs was sold for $3, 002, 150 dollars today.

Every recording in the collection was purchased by the collection’s owner over the past fifty years and represents a lifetime of work and his desire to see the music preserved for future generations. Advancing age and health concerns are forcing the owner to sell.

The history of 20th century music belongs in a museum (existing or new), or a music library. The collection’s owner is seeking a private collector or a philanthropist willing to buy and donate the collection. A donation would qualify as a tax-deductible event. The collection contains many thousands of duplicate copies, which could be sold individually on the collectibles market to recoup a substantial part of the purchase price. If you’re contemplating creating a museum around the collection, we can help with additional exhibits and design services.

[Ebay]

Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. There’s so much there and so much to be hauled away, and the best part of the listing is seeing at the bottom, where the buyer has the option of paying with PayPal. Can you imagine how that transaction will go?

Wow. As an avid record collector myself, I’m both envious and shattered at the idea of having such a collection and giving it away. Kind of reminds me of that deleted scene from the John Cusack film, High Fidelity: