NEW YORK, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Check your old vinyl albums: A copy of the Velvet Underground's first album bought for 75 cents at a New York street sale brought $155,401 on eBay.
The New York Post reported Saturday that the 12-inch LP acetate by the groundbreaking art band spurred a bidding frenzy on the auction site, including some fake bids that were later thrown out.
Saturn Records of Oakland, Calif., brokered the sale and said the acetate is only one of two in existence; the other, the Post said, is rumored to be owned by Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker.
The group also included Lou Reed and John Cale and was championed by New York pop-culture icon Andy Warhol in the 1960s.
The acetate recording was actually found at a Manhattan junk sale in New York's Chelsea district by Montreal resident Warren Hill in 2002.
The owner of Saturn Records, Scott Wax, sold the record on Hill's behalf through connections. He told the Post: "I had guessed it would get $20,000 or $40,000. When we started to see what we considered to be fake bids, that was my clue there was a lot of interest in this item. It's turned into a cultural phenomenon."
