At the beginning of the month, Keith Sivyer’s extraordinary record collection was unveiled to the world.
More than 35,000 records – 27,000 7-inch singles and 8,000 albums – were put under the hammer last Thursday. They marked a lifetime’s collection: of every new release that entered the singles charts between their inception in 1952 and Sivyer’s death, aged 75, in February.
The auction was competitive, with 10 telephone bidders calling from locations as far-flung as Brazil and Canada, but the winning bid was made by Omnifone, a digital music company that paid £73,000 for all 45,000 records and CDs – nearly 10 times the £8,000 estimate.
The company intends to re-establish the immaculately kept record collection, considered one of the most comprehensive and extensive in the world, at its offices in West London, keeping the collection in the UK after Sivyer stored it in his home in Twickenham, something his brother Gerald said he “would have wanted”.
Via The Telegraph
