Paul Mawhinney Sold his Awesome Record Collection
Greg Brown

February 22, 2008

Pittsburgh, PA: Paul Mawhinney, 69, owner of the Record-Rama retail store, probably has the largest music collection in the world. Mawhinney has 3 million records and 300,000 CDs. (Please see pictures.) Recently, Mawhinney put the entire collection for sale on eBay -- with a minimum reserve bid of $3 million. Some notes follow:

~ Mawhinney started collecting around 1957. The first record was by Frankie Lane.

~ The records are stored in a climate-controlled warehouse that is 16,000 square foot (4,876 square meter).

~ Mawhinney says he believes "someone had to preserve the music ... the history," but he is selling now due to "declining health and associated financial concerns."

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/02/worlds-largest.html

Update: A buyer in Ireland purchased the collection for $3,002,150 -- $2,150 over the $3 million minimum bid.

Following is the eBay link. If you are a big music fan, I suggest you read the Q&A (you will need to sign into eBay to read much of it). The answers are informative.

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Worlds-Greatest-Music-Collection_W0QQitemZ140206309501QQ
ihZ004QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZ
WDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Mawhinney’s retail store is shown here:
https://recordrama.sslpowered.com/index.html

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