Aussie Lets Go Of Whopping 15,000 Vinyl Records For Free

Last week, an anonymous person from New South Wales went on Facebook Marketplace and posted that they had 15,000 copies of classical 78rpm vinyl records they were giving away for free.

The person, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Music that the humongous record collection is “the remnants of a collection from a deceased estate” belonging to their relatives.

“They had collected from their youth in the 1940s until their passing,” they said, revealing that the original collection, which had shrunk before going on Marketplace, was “approximately 38,500 78s and 7,500 vinyl LPs.”

The event went off without a hitch on Saturday (23 September). Remarkably, all the records were gone in under twenty minutes. The individual explained, “We had about thirty takers; they were all lined up when I got there at 8:00 am to let them loose, and by 8:18, all 15,000 records were spoken for!”

The one-time vinyl dealer then had some extra, unexpected time up their sleeves. “Took another half hour or so to finish shifting them all out to their vehicles, so by 9:00, we were done, had a bit of a cleanup, then went home for breakfast!”

They informed The Music that the collection belonged to their cousins, a set of brothers who began collecting albums in the mid-1940s. Between them, the generous soul’s cousins amassed “about 38,500 78s and 7,500 12" LPs, plus thousands of tapes, CDs and DVDs.”

The vinyl mentioned above sold “some months back” via several sales events and Marketplace ads, with another four collectors taking vast amounts of the 78s before the weekend’s giveaway event.

The cousins also owned “a huge collection of gramophones and other modern audio equipment, plus a collection of movie-related gear, 16mm and 35mm films and projectors and other assorted paraphernalia. This totalled about six tonnes of gear and went to the collection of the Plaza Theatre in Laurieton, NSW.

“The logistics of clearing this estate have been pretty impressive,” the individual continues, revealing that “15 tonnes of records, six tonnes of cinema gear, a couple of tonnes of audio, ditto tools and stuff, plus household goods, about 32.5 tonnes in total” have been cleared.

It’s taken them and their brother over 14 months to clear. In addition to the abundance of high-quality musical equipment sold and given away for free, their late cousin was “very generous” – giving away the “vast majority of his estate” to charity and medical research. All up, the person’s family will end up with around $1 million to distribute to eight organisations.