Velvet Underground eBay Winner Prepares For “F++++!” Feedback Rating

Brian Raftery | December 12, 2006 9:22 am

points us in the direction of this Globe and Mail article, which notes that the closely watched eBay auction for a rare Velvet Underground acetate (final price: $155,401) may have been a bust:

The fabled acetate of the Velvet Underground’s famous first recording is still worth only 75 cents (U.S.). This is because the highest bidder in a 10-day online auction for the fragile acetate that ended last Friday evening “has proved to be bogus,” a disappointed [acetate owner] Warren Hill said yesterday…

On the weekend [the store overseeing the auction] received an e-mail from the supposed winner who said a friend, unbeknownst to him, had, as a lark, bid on the acetate using his (the supposed winner’s) computer at work and account number. “Ohmigod, I’m so sorry,” the e-mail read in part. “I can barely afford gas for my car” let alone more than $150,000 for a 40-year-old disc of acetone-covered aluminum.

BV did some Internet sleuthing and thinks the bogus bidder was a gentleman named Oscar, who’s somehow involved with a soon-to-be-launched L.A. music site called Scenestar (he also lists about two gazillion “favorite bands” on his MySpace page, though the Velvets are left out). Does this make sense to anyone? If so, drop us a line at tips@idolator.com.

Velvet Underground record buyer a phony, not to mention a huge Hot Hot Heat & Interpol fan? [BrooklynVegan] Reports that Velvet Underground pressing fetched $155,000 false [Globe And Mail] Earlier: Lou Reed Frantically Trying To Set Up PayPal Account