A record bought for 75 cents at a Chelsea sidewalk sale in September 2002 turned out to be a one-of-a-kind 1966 Scepter Studios recording session by The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed. The unmarked acetate sold on eBay in December 2006 for $25,200.
The 75-cent find
Warren Hill, a record collector, was browsing a sidewalk sale in Chelsea, New York, when he picked up an unmarked acetate. The price was 75 cents. At the time, nothing on the disc indicated what it was.
Acetates are lacquer-coated discs used to test-cut recordings before a commercial pressing. They're fragile, and many don't survive. This one carried no label, no artist name, no track listing — just grooves.
Identifying a Scepter Studios session
The acetate was later identified as a one-of-a-kind 1966 Scepter Studios recording session tied to The Velvet Underground and frontman Lou Reed. Scepter Studios was a New York recording facility, and the session date places it in the band's early period.
How the identification was made isn't detailed in the available facts. What's clear is that the disc was unique — not a copy of a released record, but a session recording that existed in this form only once.
From sidewalk to eBay
Four years after the purchase, in December 2006, the record went up for auction on eBay. It sold for $25,200. That's a return of roughly 33,600 times the original 75-cent price.
The sale price reflects both the scarcity of the item and the enduring interest in The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed. The band's 1967 debut album, recorded around the same period, is widely regarded as a landmark, and original artifacts from that era are rare.
What the sale leaves open
The facts don't say who bought the acetate or where it is now. They also don't specify which tracks were on the disc or how the identification was confirmed. For collectors, the story is a reminder that unmarked records can carry outsized value — and that a 75-cent gamble can pay off in ways no one at a Chelsea sidewalk sale could have predicted.
The eBay listing from December 2006 is no longer live, and the buyer remains unidentified.
