http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0230084120

I suspect Jimbo's is a close second

F... Me - 3 mil??! I have to question his 0 feedback; I didn't think ebay would allow someone like that to list something this expensive.

C'mon, if we all pitch in, we could scrounge up $3,000,000. I volunteer to be the new curator.

I met a crazy American at the main HMV in London back in '95. He owned 50,000 + CD's and would fly in twice a year to splash out on UK CD's. So Jimbo gets the bronze...

We met the man and bought from him years ago. At that time, Paul had his business on the second floor of the Post Office in the North Hills section of Pittsburgh. He bought and sold to finance this "Collection", and he also designed and patented the "Spin Clean" system for cleaning 45's and I think he had a larger one for lps. Plus, he wrote the "Music Master", which has to be bigger than 2 or 3 N.Y.C. phone books. Fanatical, cocky, loud, knowledgable, all describe him. I did not care for his "holier than thou" attitude and let him know about it. His genuine love of music and his collection were/are undeniable.

I would love to get my hands on that collection, not to keep it or archive it, or donate it to a museum, but to break it down and get it into the hands of collectors everywhere. It doesn't belong somewhere gathering dust or being looked at. (Not to mention what the profits would do for me)

One does wonder, who is the greatest music collector of all-time? A millionaire could do alot of damage but I don't know if millionaires are music collectors (they usually like properties and cars).

Morbid curiosity over a collection I couldn't possibly afford led me to speak to several friends in the industry who CAN and would be very interested. Guess I'm coming very late to the party: all my inquiries about Paul came back with the same response: "Hate to be a sourpuss about your excitement, but forget this guy!"

As Roxanne stated, Paul used to own a record store in Pittsburgh. Though his collection is large, it consists of 80% reissues/reprints and MANY duplicates (LP's & 45's) in questionable condition. In short, these are the pieces that did not sell while his store was in operation. Moreover, he does not have EVERY release of the golden era of rock'n'roll as he so boldly states...not even close.

He first contacted the Smithsonian and asked for $50mil. Their representatives perused his library and came back with an offer of $28mil, to which he quickly told them to "F**k Off." Next, several key buyers from Amoeba and Rockaway were alerted to the sale, and both companies immediately flew out to investigate. Neither could find much of real value, so they too passed. They also had a real hard time
dealing with the gentleman's cocky and abrasive attitude (as Roxanne also stated).

Since that time, individual collectors have gone through and cherry-picked those things they found valuable to them. The final stop (where we picked up the thread) was ebay, and the sale has now concluded with no bidders.

I second Roxanne's opinion on what I would do if I was the curator of a decent collection of originals. I would certainly get those items into the hands of collectors via starting my own reissue label and having those pieces meticulously remastered for CD (original tapes have been lost on MANY things with safeties being used more often than not these days; especially in the case of Atlantic Records and small independent labels that don't exist anymore).

He was a fool not to take the Smithsonian offer, if they really offered him $28 million. Unless of course he's fantastically wealthy already and money means nothing to him.

Nice to know I can just call the Smithsonian when I decide to sell my collection!

Being in the area, I shopped at his store many times when it was above the post office - once he moved, I never made it to the new location. He had a pretty lousy pricing policy on out of print stuff - if it was out of print, the price was based on how old it was, not on how easy to find. For example, I picked up Air Supply's "Lost In Love" when it was out of print. He was asking $35 for it. I got it at Camelot for $11.

Some interesting things came out after his first attempt to sell on e-bay (this is the second attempt). He was claiming a Stones record was worth at least $10,000 - it was selling for about $500 elsewhere.

I found some neat things there, picked up a few rarities, and learned about Can-Am cabs there (I've thought about contacting them about those). But yeah, definitely a bit of "High Fidelity" attitude there. And not in the amusing way.

Alan