The fabled acetate of the Velvet Underground’s famous first recording did not sell on eBay for $155,000 U.S., as widely reported. It is still worth only 75 U.S. cents. The highest bidder in a 10-day online auction for the fragile acetate that ended Friday night “has proved to be bogus,” disappointed owner Warren Hill says. The 30-year-old Montrealer paid 75 cents for the nine-song acetate after finding it at a street sale in New York in 2002. They auctioned it on eBay, but the winning bid from of $155,401 from a buyer called “mechadaddy” turned out to be a hoax. The supposed winner said a friend, unbeknownst to him, had, as a lark, bid on the acetate using the supposed winner’s account number.
Is it sad that I don’t think I’ve even heard of the Velvet Undergound?
Yes, it is very sad *pats Charybdis’s head*
You probably have heard of them though - Andy Warhol was their manager, groundbreaking band - probably the first alternative band there was, Lou Reed, Nico, “Here She Comes” “I’m Waiting for the Man” , that famous album with the banana on the cover….
I’m sure I’ve heard the name before, but I’ve never known anything about them so the name would have been meaningless and quickly forgotten. I have heard of Andy Warhol and Lou Reed, however. Just didn’t know they had any connection.
Chuck, was the debunking story in the same place you saw the original story?
I’m curious because the normal places I read news had the story of the record bought at a flea market for 75 cents being sold for scazillions, but none of them ran a retraction of the story. (Or if they did, they didn’t put it where I could find it without hunting for it.)
Hold on—if mechadddy’s bid of $155,401 was not bona fide, then wouldn’t the record have sold to the next bidder (at $155,301)—or were they all bogus? I counted about 25 bids at $150K or higher from something like 10 or 12 different bidders.
If the winning bid is fraudulent then the auction is withdrawn. Otherwise you could win an auction at a lower price simply by logging into a different account and making an outrageous bid that nobody else will try to top.
As for the pitying, it seems such a small thing to pity me for when there is so much more about me worthy of pity, or at least of scorn.
Chuck, was the debunking story in the same place you saw the original story?
I’m curious because the normal places I read news had the story of the record bought at a flea market for 75 cents being sold for scazillions, but none of them ran a retraction of the story. (Or if they did, they didn’t put it where I could find it without hunting for it.)
well, I found it by searching News articles and the first one I found was a short blurb and a link to the MTV News page which I had problems getting to work…here is the link. http://www.antimusic.com/dayinrock/06/dec/13/14.shtml
and then the second mention I found was a Canadian news papers web site..this is the one I pasted originally but here is the link.
