Luc Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Granddad leaves behind treasure trove of 80,000 records, believed to be Australia's biggest collection What is thought to be Australia's biggest record collection is up for grabs. The collection belonged to Gold Coast grandfather, Ken Perkins, who left behind a treasure trove of more than 80,000 records after his death. Mr Perkins spent more than 50 years building the archive, which would take more than six-and-a-half years to listen to in its entirety. "If anyone knew my dad, they would know he had this little black book," his daughter Natalie Perkins said. "He would pull it out of his little jacket pocket and he had just the catalogue numbers of the missing pieces, the gems he was looking for." Ms Perkins has been left with the mammoth task of clearing out his crowded house. Photo: Natalie Perkins inherited her dad's record collection, but not his love of blues. (ABC Gold Coast: Lucy Murray) "Just walking into the collection is overwhelming in itself, let alone trying to catalogue it," she said. "We did try and prod Dad to give us some sort of instructions, we knew that the day would come he would pass away and this collection would be left to my sister and I. "But he never saw this collection going in his lifetime, he wasn't interested in selling it, he didn't collect for anyone else bar himself." Notes from beyond the grave Ms Perkins was not left completely in the dark, however. The ever-meticulous collector left notes for her inside the covers of his favourite albums. "He has slipped handwritten notes into the a few of the sleeves, just indicating what they may be worth," she said. "The first one I found was just so exciting, it was beautiful. "With something like this you're looking for a sign and I just took that. It was a sign." What is the collection worth? The vinyl collection is thought to be the biggest in Australia. Modern antiques expert Dr Daryl Sparkes said he was blown away by the size of the collection. "It is one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life actually," he said. "I would have to say this is the most impressive and largest collection I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of collections." Dr Sparkes said all the records were in perfect condition, which was surprising as some of the 78s were more than 100 years old. "It says to me the person who was collecting these went beyond just being passionate about his collection, he was treating these albums like they were his own children," he said. The collection was Mr Perkins' life's work and his daughter said she had no idea how much he spent putting it all together. "Dad was from the UK originally and he was very tight-lipped about things like money," she said. "So I don't know how much over the 50-odd years he would have invested into this collection, but I'm assuming it was quite a bit." Dr Sparkes said pricing the records won't be easy. "You would have to go through each individual album and rate them for quality and also for rareness and then you'd be able to work out a price," he said. "I found some Elvis stuff, I've found some really rare Johnny Cash and people will fall over themselves for some of that stuff." "I would hate to guesstimate, but it could be anywhere up to a million dollars." Is there a buyer? Photo: Natalie Perkins with her father Ken. (Supplied: Natalie Perkins) Mr Perkins' collection spanned several genres, unlike many collectors who stuck to a niche, like an era or specific type of music. "I don't think you'll ever see another collection like this in your entire life," Dr Sparkes said. If it is to be sold, the collection would likely be split up. "There is jazz here, there is blues here, there's surf music, there is 50s rock and not all collectors collect all of that," Dr Sparkes said. "They will just collect a small niche area — it would be easier to sell it in sections rather than all in one go." Photo: Natalie Perkins would like to see her dad's collection kept together, rather than cherry picked by collectors. (ABC Gold Coast: Lucy Murray) But the Perkins family would love to see the lifetime of music kept together and not cherry-picked by different collectors. "We believe it does have cultural significance and historic significance," Ms Perkins said. "So we would love to see it move onto someone else — the right person." Dr Sparks agreed. "It is a cultural treasure, it probably needs to go into a museum or The National Film and Sound Archives," he said. "Someone at a governmental level needs to take control of this collection as it is a national treasure." While Ms Perkins waits for a buyer, she has created an Instagram account, The Ken Perkins Collection, dedicated to the gems in this haystack. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Now there's only one thing I disagree with here and that is the thought of this collection ending up in a museum. Where it wouldn't be played and would just sit there and people would look at the physical size of it and go 'Wow' and then move on. I'd rather see it being used for what music is for and that's giving pleasure and that means either splitting it up or some rich bugger like @djb or @Telecine or @buddyev or super rich bugger like @Marc or @Eggmeister buying it as complete unit. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Posted June 17, 2018 Author Share Posted June 17, 2018 *I'll accept a spotters fee if one of the above mentioned nonpareils decides to grab it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony ray Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Metalbeat must have at least 80,000 records himself. I think his already panicking about what his daughters are going to do with them when he Karks it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kab Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Geez and i thought my 20,000+ collection was big enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hergest Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Don't let any government sound archive get within a mile of any of it. The bastards are flogging off everything they own anyway and bunging a tiny proportion of it on digital storage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acg Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Yowsers...80,000 records in this collection up for grabs...from the Gold Coast. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-18/australias-largest-record-collection-for-sale/9875556 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demondes Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Wow great story. whilst I understand the sentiment of not breaking up the collection, it would likely be wasted on a Government department who wouldn’t know what to do with it, apart from archiving it in some vault. i guess we could guarantee that nobody would ever hear that music again, and some sneaky staffer would steal the individual valuable records, and a liberal government would sell the collection for some fast cash to pay for tax cuts down the line.. Some ideas 1) A record sale with proceeds to charities and some to the family? 2) rules around how small the collection for sale can be broken up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_mike Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Just to put things into perspective, Ikea Kalax hold about 80 records per cube, which only allows you space to comfortably remove a record. Their largest unit is a 5 x 5, so capacity for 2000 records. You would need 40 of these units! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 It would be cheaper to marry her... 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_mike Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 What about crowd funding to secure it in an SNA party room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenikoy Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 I'm fairly heartless when it comes to these collections - Would be good to see rare Australian recordings go to the national archive ($value or not) - Cherry pick the real treasure out and sell individually - Flog the rest at a special record fair or job lot it to one or a few traders for them to deal with. As awesome as the collection might be, the kids aren't interested and collectors don't want someone else's whole collection. I have this discussion with my Dad about his medium sized book collection. He says he will be happy if they don't end up in a skip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pulinap Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 @candyflip 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin-hobart Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Did I see a value figure of AUD 1 million hypothesised in the earlier news item? Surely they're Dreamin' ....... It will be broken up and sold in bits & pieces. Inevitably there will be a heap of stuff that nobody wants. Probably overall lucky to average $1 per LP? Yes / no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_mike Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Kaynin said: It would be cheaper to marry her... Even if things don't work out, you'd end up with 40 000 records. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_mike Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 It will go way higher than $1 per record. Given when the collection was started, I can see pristine condition rarities going for upward of $1000 each. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbuzzardstubble Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 4 hours ago, kab said: Geez and i thought my 20,000+ collection was big enough! https://thevinylfactory.com/features/inside-the-worlds-biggest-record-collection-an-interview-with-zero-freitas/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.dent Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Did you see his Hi Fi on TV? It looked like an old Silver 3-in-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EV Cali Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) I knew Ken.He was a really nice guy and a regular at Record Fairs. As his daughter mentioned, this was his personal collection and it gave him great pleasure and that is all that really matters. It would be nice to see the collection broken up, at least in to artist/ sections. Probably then the most chance of it going to other collectors who would appreciate them. Rather than disappearing in to a Museum. Edited June 18, 2018 by EV Cali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citroen Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Ken had a great idea by putting notes in some of his more precious lps. I might have to start doing that too. "First UK pressing, don't sell for less than $300", "First lp ever bought - its worthless so bury it with me", "Hated this one, reminds me of Uncle Harry, so give it to him" etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citroen Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, a.dent said: Did you see his Hi Fi on TV? It looked like an old Silver 3-in-1 No worries. He probably only played most of them a couple of times at most so won't be too ruined! Edited June 18, 2018 by Citroen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony ray Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 My lovely missus cant wait to sell off my MFSL gold collection of Pink Floyd CDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awayward Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 7 minutes ago, Tony ray said: My lovely missus cant wait to sell off my MFSL gold collection of Pink Floyd CDs. I think we might have the same missus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewantsmoore Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 On 18/06/2018 at 11:54 AM, robin-hobart said: Did I see a value figure of AUD 1 million hypothesised in the earlier news item? Surely they're Dreamin' ....... Depends on how much rare/mint stuff there is in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citroen Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 An auction expert has seen the collection, and also four turntables in the house. Mostly american, rare Robert Johnson 78 single, $30,000 Buddy Holly, but 90% ordinary. Which leaves 10% rsre/collectible, ie 8,000 records. He estimates around 1 million dollars. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018650142/gold-coast-man-s-record-collection-a-holy-grail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guru Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Saying a collection is worth a million and actually getting someone to pay it are 2 entirely separate things. For a buyer to resell, $100k or less, for a buyer to keep, $150k and its only because he has a lot of super. Given the logistics involved in trying to maximise the amount, the 2 grand daughters would need to work 7 days a week for the next 4 years cleaning and grading, photographing and publishing online, boxing and posting and still have 40000 records unsold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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