This collection of records is so uniquely large that the structure of Fred D.’s house had to be taken into consideration! “The size is kind of ridiculous,” shares Fred. “It’s large – it takes up multiple rooms. We had to have a structural engineer to come up with a plan to lay it out and not cause the house to crack too much.”
When asked why he started collecting, Fred answers, “I think it’s just my personality! That combined with the fact that I’ve loved music from the beginning.” In fact, he considers himself a bit more of a music lover than a collector, as his love for the music he listens to transcends his desire to collect.
The specific records that Fred collects are all dictated by his personal taste, rather than their individual value. “My taste has grown over time, and it’s a vicious circle that has you collect more records.” By college, his record collection was already quite sizeable, but when he started working and had more disposable income, that’s when things really took off.
Like most collectors, Fred is unable to choose a favorite item from his collection. “It’s like having children and calling one out as your favorite!” he says. “I tend to love all of it.” Despite this, he is able to call out a few specific items that are memorable. An early purchase that stands out for Fred is the Beatles single “Can’t Buy Me Love.” His grandmother purchased this record for him originally. “Fast forward to decades later, and it turns out that single was only available in the northeast for a specific time. It turned into one of the most financially valuable singles, and somehow, I didn’t lose it or trash it. It’s not in mint condition, but it’s in really good condition.”
Another stand-out item is a record by artist Laura Nyro. For years, people thought that this record had only been released as a promotional item and that there were no produced records available to the public. Fred is lucky enough to have the only stock copy of this record. “I’ve never found a record of anyone [else] having it!”
This collection of over 22,000 records is comprised of 7,800 singles, with the rest of the collection being LPs. To contain this collection, Fred has built plywood boxes that are 2 ft long by the width of a record. “Given the weight and size of this, I’ve bought industrial heavy duty metal shelving. They are stored in all of the second-floor rooms in my home.” The boxes also have plywood tops that Fred leaves on to keep things dry and dark. The rooms are temperature and humidity controlled, and each record is stored in a mylar sleeve. They are then organized by genre, with everything alphabetized within its genre. “It’s set up kind of like a record store,” Fred explains. Being in the computer business has given Fred a leg up on cataloguing his collection, as all his albums are documented in a digital system that also tracks their condition.
When he looks back on everything that he has amassed over the years, Fred is overwhelmed at how much he has invested into these records. “When you really sit down to summarize the value in your head, it can be kind of shocking how much it’s worth!” As Fred draws closer to the end of his career, he has no plans to pass this collection on to his children, believing that this would present them with an unmanageable task. “I know so much about this collection because it’s all curated. If it went to my children, they would have no idea of the value or what’s interesting. My retirement may be composed of [selling off] this collection!”
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