An Oxfam charity shop in Tavistock, Devon are to hold a charity auction after being given up to 4,000 classical vinyl LPs, worth in excess of £25,000. Staff at the shop announced the donation, from an anonymous widow, yesterday - they reckon its the largest of its kind ever.
"It's amazing. I can't think of a classical genre that's missing", Terry Hyde, an Oxfam volunteer who values music for the shop, told The Guardian. "It's all there: all your big figures from the 18th and 19th century, your 20th century unlistenable nightmares by Stockhausen, avant garde, opera, unaccompanied violin - virtually every genre is covered. When I looked at the records they looked virtually unplayed. With 4,000 records, how often could they really be played? You'd have to listen to them non-stop for years to get through them".
Some of the records have gone on sale already, and are expected to reach prices ranging from £1.99 to £150. The records will be made available in the Tavistock shop before being put up for online auction. "It is important for people who donate to actually see their gifts in the shop", said manager Jackie Theobold. "It's a small shop, I don't think we'll fit the whole collection in one go. We'll do a Chopin week, a Mozart week, that sort of thing - we'll find a way around it".