Rare velvet underground record up for auction

UPDATE: THE ACETATE WAS PLACED ON EBAY AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR BIDDING UNTIL JULY 28TH AT 11 P.M. EST. A rare early Velvet Underground record recorded in 1966 and sold at auction in 2006

for $25,200 will be going back up for auction this July. Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71 The so-called “Scepter Studios” acetate contains several songs that

would eventually be released on the group’s landmark debut _The Velvet Underground & Nico_ the following year, including alternate takes and mixes for “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Venus

in Furs” and “Heroin.” The acetate is one of only two known surviving copies, with Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker possessing the other copy. The seller, a New York man who wishes

to remain anonymous, tells _Rolling Stone_ that he initially bought the record both as a piece of musical history and financial investment. “I watched the auction first just because it was

so rare, I was curious to see how high the sale would go,” said the seller. “I bought it for $25,200, which, in my mind, was extremely undervalued for what the record was. I’m a big Velvet

Underground fan, but to be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of this album. But the significance of the record for music is unmistakable. It’s obviously a piece of musical history, but I

wouldn’t have purchased it then if I didn’t see its potential as a financial investment.” The acetate itself has one of the most curious backstories in music. In April 1966, engineer Norman

Dolph recorded the test pressing in secret and after hours in exchange for a painting by the group’s then-manager Andy Warhol. Warhol wanted to record and cut the acetate before the band

signed to a record label to minimize label intrusion. Dolph sent the acetate to Columbia Records, who rejected it alongside Atlantic and Elektra. Verve Records would eventually agree to

distribute the band’s debut album. EDITOR’S PICKS Fast forward to 2002, when record collector Warren Hill saw the acetate at a street sale in New York City and bought it for 75 cents. In

2006, Hill put the record up for auction on eBay, and though the record initially sold for $155,401, it was determined that the winning bidder was fraudulent. Hill re-auctioned the vinyl

record with more stringent buying requirements in place, selling the acetate to its current owner. The seller says once he bought the record, he immediately placed it in a safe and chose not

to listen to it. “It wasn’t worth it to me to even handle the record, let alone drag a needle across it,” he tells us. “This is not a conventional record that can be played thousands and

thousands of times. It’s an acetate; it’s the equivalent of a CD you’d burn 10 years ago.” In 2012, the acetate was officially released as the fourth disc of the album’s “45th Anniversary

Super Deluxe Edition” box set and a limited edition of 5,000 copies of the acetate were sold as part of Record Store Day that same year.  TRENDING STORIES Shuga Records, a Chicago record

store specializing in rare and one-of-a-kind records, is assisting in the logistics of the sale, and notes to _Rolling Stone_ that the acetate finds the band at its most individualistic.

“This record represents a different take on the music industry, in which the labels were kept out of the mix to avoid artistic compromise, and the completed recording was pitched as-is,” 

says a spokesperson for the store. “This is the Velvets as the Velvets and Andy Warhol saw them, unencumbered by label A&Rs worrying about how this lyric might affect album sales, or the

music being hard to digest.” Shuga Records has set up a website detailing more information about the sale, including the creation of a hand-crafted wooden LP featuring a replica label from

the acetate. The seller would not disclose how much he is expecting the record to sell for, but says that 10 percent of the sale’s proceeds will go to an animal rights charity.