This obscure vinyl record just sold for HOW MUCH?

Used vinyl can trade for hundreds, thousands, or in the case of some Beatles records, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And contrary to what some may think, big-money sales don’t always involve artists you’ve heard about. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

For example, connoisseurs of Northern Soul, the English scene that prizes obscure R&B records, rare records routinely trade hands for five figures. And now we have this sale of a debut record by a British DJ named Scaramanga Silk.

Who? Exactly.

In 2008, he released his debut, Choose Your Weapon. This week, a copy of that record sold for US$41,095.89 on Discogs.com. It’s the biggest sale ever in the history of Discogs and one of the most expensive records ever sold, breaking the old Discogs record of US$27,500 for a copy of Prince’s infamous and deleted Black Album from 1987.

There were only 20 numbered copies ever made of the type that just sold: a promo vinyl edition that came with a CD, an art print and a poem. This copy was 02/20.

Everyone–including Scaramanga Silk–is confused. I quote him from The Guardian: “It is very difficult to understand why the release went for that kind of money, as I do not believe that any record is worthy of such a valuation. The individual who made the purchase must have had some kind of special connection to the work too … It means a lot that Choose Your Weapon is so special to somebody.”

How much does Silk earn from the sale? Zero.

By the way, the most expensive vinyl record ever sold remains a copy of The Beatles’ white album with the serial number 0000001. Ringo owned that one and sold it off for charity in 2015. It raised US$790,000.

I’d post a stream of Silk’s Choose your Weapon, but it doesn’t seem to appear anywhere. If you want to hear it, you’ll have to come up with more than US$41,095.89