Auction List Classical / Operatic

Most opera collectors must by now have heard of the auctions of the collection of the late Sir John Paul Getty Jr. In 2013 and 2014 his collection of celebrity vocal records had been sold through an English auction house in 5 public auctions.

From early age Getty has compiled several collections, of which one was a selection of early operatic 78rpm records. Among others the purchase of the legendary Harold Wayne collection enabled him to build up the the most important collection of early operatic records worldwide. For some decades the collection of London physician Dr.Harold Wayne was regarded as the world´s best collection of operatic records, while his duplicate collection was said to be the world´s second best collection. Finally the Wayne collection does most of the Getty collection. Unlimited funds of course helped the great rarities to find the way into the Getty collection which in some cases also contained two or three copies of a great rarity. Getty had f.i. also purchased the famous Vivian Liff collection. About 15.000 records in total had been sold by the English auctioneers.

I had been the only foreign bidder who participated in all five auctions in the room. Fortunately the auctioneer had kindly offered me some extra time for viewing which enabled me to check all 15.000 records visually.

Apart of the thrill of holding so many most important items in my hands it has been a great advantage to know the condition of the items I was bidding on. Even if there was the opportunity to bid online from all over the world, it was impossible to get an idea of the condition of all records offered there from abroad. The auction catalogues didn´t give any hints on the condition of the records offered. While it was assummed that in general all Harold Wayne records were top copies, the percentage of records with severe damages, needle wear, cracks, chips in the Getty sales was higher than expected.
Once only very few copies of a record are known to exist, their condition is of course secondary.
To find the right limit I was anyway glad having inspected record by record. I tented to go over my limits for top copies while I stopped struggling rather soon for minor copies.

Finally I have managed to purchase hundreds of auction lots (in total about 3.500 records) for PHONOPASSION ranging from musically satisfying but rather common, to scarce, rare, top rare to unique copies of which some are mile stones in the history of recorded sound. These records shall find their way into new collections. They shall be offered for sale individually in this and in future annual PHONOPASSION catalogues.

Of some of the records their provenance can be traced far back into the early 20th century. On many record covers of the Wayne collection handwritten comments and information can be found on provenance, rarity and value of a record as well as hints on the correct speed or stylus size. More knowledgeable background information is available in the liner notes of the 40 volume CD series „The Harold Wayne collection“ by Symposium Records where Harold Wayne tells about the provenance and rarity of many of his records.

I also recommend Larry Lustig´s article on Harold Wayne in „The Record Collector, vol.37 no.3, p.223-227“, published in a series of articles on important operatic collectors called „Collector´s collectors“.

Records of the former Harold Wayne collection are indicated in our catalogue by << Harold Wayne >> all other Getty sale records by << Getty >>. Harold Wayne records usually have a label sticker „Harold Wayne collection“ on the sleeve.

Hopefully many of these thrilling records will go into the collections of enthusiastic music lovers who will appreciate the fascination of these terrific pieces. May a new generation of record collectors have the opportunity to share the excitement of listening to these historic performances with those who had been collecting these items some generations before.

Although I am personally a collector of jazz 78s I regard the records of the Getty/ Wayne collection as inimitable and extremely fascinating cultural heritage. About 100 records of this collection have therefore found their way into my personal archive – a temptation I couldn´t resist. Even if I would wish to keep all 3500 records, I have to make a living from selling records. Nevertheless I am happy to own the majority of them for at least a short period of time.