An acetate of the legendary debut album from the Velvet Underground, the one with the banana on the sleeve, allegedly sold on eBay for a staggering $155,401 is still worth only the 75 cents its owner paid for it.
The acetate copy of ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’ was originally purchased at a Montreal flea market, and is thought to be one of only two in existence.
The eBay auction ended last Friday with the news that a winning bid of $155,401 had been made, and unsurprisingly accepted by Warren Hill, who bought the acetate in September 2002.
Saturn Records, based in Oakland, California, who were handling on the online sale, have since received an email from the apparent auction winner – who claims a fiend made the astonishing bid on his behalf “as a lark”.
“I’m so sorry,” the email partly read. “I can barely afford gas for my car,” it went on.
Hill was reported to be “totally disappointed” by the news.