This nightmare still bugs me to this day....
I had a contact, a record guy, of course. This goes back to the late 1990s....we had met at one of the record shows / conventions. He lived in the USA, tho nowhere near me. He wasn't into garage, so anything he came across, I'd get a heads-up.
Record guy calls me one weekend and orders me to get in my car and start driving south, to meet up with him.
Evidently, he'd met someone who had a lot of records. A LOT. All 45s? Yep. Juker? Accumulator? No - a retired collector. I trusted record guy's word, so I packed some clothes, took some $$$ outta the bank, and headed off. After a 7 hour drive, I got to the location, booked a room at the motel and waited for Record Guy to arrive (he was a few hours closer drive).
When Record Guy arrived, it was about 5PM on a Saturday. He told me that we were going to a warehouse / storage area. I hoped it wasn't one of those dilapidated places with no heat / lights...We got there, and met the retired collector, I'll call him Burt. Very friendly, as most southerners from the USA tend to be. He'd explained that he started collecting records in the 1956-57 era, loved groups, Rhythm and blues, straight blues. He had , to his best guess, 20,000 45 and about 3,000 78s. "I never bought junk, unless it came as part of the RADIO STATION loads i bought..." Wow, the magic words...RADIO STATION...that meant there could be just about anything in the collection, and chances were good conditions would be near the top of the grading scale. No beaters.
Burt takes us into the old warehouse type building. Looked to be used by Burt and some other folks for storing things, equipment, etc. Burt's portion was on the end unit. It was climate controlled with lights and A/C / heat, which is nice, of course. The space was pretty large, and when he opened up the door, my jaw hit the floor. Shelves everywhere, like a library. Rows were wide enough to walk down and navigate, but we needed a ladder to climb to reach the topmost shelves.
Record Guy and I decide to canvass the load, meaning we'd go thru sections to evaluate what was there.
What we saw were boxes some large, some the size of paper ream boxes, all FULL of sleeved 45s. I saw lots of those old time, thick green sleeves, as well as 45s in company sleeves. Conditions were 75% VG+ and better 25% VG or less. But it was the QUALITY that was mind-numbing. I found collectible soul 45s, not that I really knew soul value sin expert detail back then, but a few titles I remember seeing bring big bucks to this day. Some were of 3-4 copies per title. There were lots of clean collectible sides, probably every Beatles, Stones (there was a "Street Fighting Man" sleeve which Record Guy found and bought outright. Lots of rockabilly, I saw real copies of Jackie Morningstar, Jess Hooper, and tons of small label discs. I found a few killer garage 45s (Tombstones on Grave, two unplayed copies of the Nomads "Thoughts Of A Madman" and other 45s on the Toronado label in one box) but we only looked for about a half hour, since Burt had to return home.
Record Guy and I were ecstatic. There had to be at least 40,000 45s, as we did a quick inventory count of boxes. There was definitely enough good stuff in the load to make it worth our while. Burt was only interested in selling the whole schlameel. The bad thing - we only had a week to get everything out, as Burt was terminating his lease for his storage space in ten days. He'd been very sick and recently discharged from the hospital (war vet, told us lots of tales about fighting for Uncle Sam, the lifestyle, etc as we dug thru the boxes). Record Guy and I told Burt we'd come out to his home the next morning, we were definitely interested in buying the whole lot.
Next day, we met him at his place. Burt's wife made us a nice hearty breakfast. We discussed / negotiated a deal, which equated to 25 grand. Since I had brought around 8 grand on me, extracted from my then dry saving account, plus i had to drive back home to be at work the next day, it was agreed that we'd arrange full payment within the week. Only problem - Burt was adamant that it had to be cash..no bank check, no direct deposit. I gave Burt my wad of cash, and Record Guy gave him 2 grand in his wallet. He told us he'd see us back here next weekend. As it panned out, either one of those non-cash options would have prevented the nightmare that transpired. What seemed like a collector's dream come true quickly turned to black clouds hangin' over my head. The story of my life, as the Unrelated Segments once sang..
Before i left to return home, Record guy and I discussed our plan - we'd rent a truck for next weekend. I'd drive down on Friday, so we'd have two full days (took the following Monday off work) We would split the cost of the collection ($12,500, plus the cost of a truck and a place to store the 45s that was equal in distance from the both of us. I found a spot and calculated another grand per each of us to figure for expenses. Burt said he wasn't looking for top dollar, but he'd known Record Guy for many years. Even Record Guy had no idea about Burt's storage space full of 45s and some 78s. Only about his personal collection which had been sold off before his first hospital visit.
I'm back at work, and get a call on Thursday. It was Record Guy. He sounded, well, defeated. "I can't believe it...Burt passed away on Monday night. Damn! "What about the 45s, I asked? Record Guy said Burt's wife would go down and pay to keep the 45s in the storage unit until things settled down. I thought of heading down just for the services but they were already taking place. "I didn't wanna bum you out until I found out the circumstances" Record Guy related. So i was told we'd have to play it by ear as to when we could pick up the records.
Weeks turned into months. Record Guy was getting impatient, as was I. It seems that Burt's estate had to be settled, and some things, like the warehouse lot of records, were not included in his will. That meant probate court. It could take many more months. Record Guy assured me that Burt's wife had taken care of the rental contract. I even rang her up to express condolences once i found out the news. Burt's wife was very understanding; she told her lawyer about our dilemma, and she said he'd make sure nothing happened with the records. They were ours as soon as probate took care of the estate.
Six months later, still no records. As you would think, I am NOT pleased. At all. I gave a now deceased guy $8,000 and I didn't even have those 200 or so 45s I had found in the time I had to look set aside and in my possession yet. Fast forward another three months. Still, no records. Burt's wife's phone mysteriously would ring but never be answered, not even on the machine. Record Guy claims he's gonna drive down and find out what is going on in a couple of days.
Burt's wife was nowhere to be found once he got down there. The house had been sold; the people who bought it had no idea where she was. I knew Burt had a son who lived out of state, but we never met him or ever heard from him. Record Guy calls me at work reports back the incredible news - that old storage building had BURNED DOWN three months ago. We were never told or informed. When he hung up, i threw the phone into the wall, it broke into pieces. I was enraged.
The big mystery which irritates me every time I remember the nightmare: Did all of those records get removed from the building before the fire? I tend to think so, because Burt's son had been made aware of our cash upfront plus handshake deal with his dad. We never found out what happened. Never a call from the lawyer handing the estate (never could get in touch with his office). We learned Burt's wife had passed away unexpectedly a few months earlier, which is why we unable to reach her. Think the son would have told us? Makes me really wonder...And /record /guy - after that fiasco, I hardly ever heard from him again. When I jokingly made a comment about him being in on the scam, well, he got really angry with me. Hey, he only was out 2 grand and got a copy of the rarest Rolling Stones pic sleeve. What did i get? 8 grand to look thru a bunch of boxes of collectible 45s that we could've resold for a nice profit, and kept many gems for ourselves.
No records!!! No 8 grand! And people wonder why I'm bitter and jaded regarding records. We should have just hauled those 45s out the next day and dealt with everything later. Lesson learned. Record Guy also has passed on, about 2 years after our meeting in the undisclosed locale with Burt...I wonder where his "Street fighting Man" sleeve is today? At the very least, I should have gotten it to help cover my cost of the phantom purchase.
