Well, what a weekend I had down in Milton Keynes, digging in shops and selling/buying at a small record fair in a pub. I had all sorts of finds from 60’s Afro-Beat to obscure early 80’s synth 7″s. But blowing them all out of the water was this album I came across. I emailed a guy who runs a site specialising in David Bowie autographs after I picked up a copy of Ziggy Stardust. I was hanging around outside the venue where the record fair was and as I had got there 2 hours early got chatting to a bloke who was off loading loads of his own car boot finds and he let me dig into his boot before he unloaded his wares, which included half a dozen Bowie albums. Naturally I bought them all and the copy of Ziggy he had was very clean and also a first press – with the correct credits, no Mainman on the rear of the sleeve etc. I paid him £25 as that was what he wanted but upon closer inspection I noticed a signature on the rear which (to me) looks like it could actually be by the mainman himself. As a longtime fan ( since 1970) I was pretty much blown away by the possibility of having the good fortune to have found a first pressing of this that may have been signed – not something I would ever be able to buy on the open market. When I asked the seller if he knew about the signature he shrugged and said “I dunno mate, could be, I don’t care to be honest”. However… I thought it would be a good idea to contact Andy Peters who runs a site specializing in db autographs. He wrote to me today to say,
“Good to hear from you. I get hundreds of these requests a month and sadly, they are all either poor attempts or silly scribbles. I’m delighted to say, this is 100% authentic – an incredibly rare find indeed. Bowie signed the rear phone box often as it was the only decent area for a biro. I’d put this signature and LPs value at circa £1000. Always nice to have an Antique Roadshow moment – congratulations!!
Best wishes – Andy”
Which is pretty amazing and a once in a lifetime find, right place right time but I know when I go back to the record fair seller and tell him about that Bowie album he sold me he’ll just just shrug and say good for you, he really didn’t care less either way! I will still buy him a pint or two though.
Nice work! I’ve never been quite so lucky. Closest was with a mate, stopped at a village shop to buy a sandwich and some water on a hot day. Inside boasted one of those wire carousels that used to show up in random shops, usually stuffed with MFP titles and what-not. This one had all of that tat plus an obvious foreigner – the Glastonbury Fayre triple-LP, in its plastic Silver Surfer bag, all the pyramidical accoutrements, all still in mint condition. £3.99. My mate spotted it first.
Nice find.
Friend of mine found a copy of Revolver in a Charity Shop in Henley with a couple of squiggles on.
On closer inspection, one said “George” (he never did say what the other one was)
Being the good Samaritan that he is, he pointed this out to the old bloke in Oxfam, suggesting £15 might be under-selling it.
Nearest I ever came was an Iron Maiden album with “Steve” written on the back – turns out it was the previous owners name, as there were 3 or 4 other albums with the same name written on it.
I once bought a coloured map of London for 10p (in 1983) which sold at Sotheby’s for £150. That was a lot for me at the time!
Excellent!
I once bought Help! Beatles book (basically a precis of the film) for 30p and sold it for 8 quid when I was a bit short.
I saw an apparently autographed Cliff record in a charity shop in Skipton last year. They didn’t want much for it, but I Ieft it for someone who would appreciate it more.
Wonder if they’ve managed to Move It yet…
🙂
I bought a 50p seven inch single in a charity shop in Cromer a couple of weeks ago which is signed by Glynis Johns.
Who?
Glands, she used to work at the crab stall in Cromer. I take it you never went there?
*Glynis* bloody autocorrect.
Welsh actress, she was in Mary Poppins.
I wonder if it was actually Glyn Johns, who a certain Mr Lennon referred to as “Glynis”.
I believe he produced The Who as well
*rolls eyes*
Ah, I see what you did there. Not the ‘Oo, it might be Slade. I’ll have a look later.
Found it. A 12″, not 7″, of Cool Meditation b/w Journey to Addis, by Third World.
“Produced by Alex Sadkin & Third World, Executive Producer: Chris Blackwell.”
No mention of Glyn Johns in the Discogs credits. Perhaps the Mary Poppins actress liked a bit of reggae?
There’s a semi-retired actress, with bit-part roles in Midsomer Murders and the like, who lives round the corner from the flat we sometimes rent in Southwold. I always get her and Glynis confused.
“Ziggy comes up Trumps”
Is that the version that is 25% longer (and then causes the cartridge to crash and reverts to only being 10% longer)
haha, you know it!
Ziggy comes up Trump’s what?
The blog’s standards have really plummeted since Moose left.
Why would the Bowie guy absolutely know a scribble against a dark background was genuine?
I suspect it is, but would definitely cash in double-quick, not least because how do you know it’s really genuine? You don’t, do you.
I think the expert explained that
Andy is certainly your go to man when it comes to db squiggles – https://davidbowieautograph.com/
My wife got a Christmas card signed by all four (original) members of Queen when the music shop her dad owned used to service Brian May’s guitars.
We sold it on ebay for £80 a few years later