At 50,000 and counting, is this NZ’s biggest record collection?

By Chris Schulz of RNZ He started collecting vinyl at the age of eight. Now, there are too many records to count. A few weeks ago, Chris (last name withheld to protect identity) was flicking through his record collection when he came across a copy of Brain Drain , a 1989 album by the New York punk act Ramones.

He noticed some markings on the cover. “There were scribbles all over it,” he says. He wondered: “What is that?’” Chris took a photo and sent it to a record-collecting friend.

“I said, ‘Is this a piss-take?’” His friend looked up the group’s autographs online. “No,” he replied. “That’s been signed by the Ramones.

” According to recent sales figures, that could make his copy worth up to US$799 - about $1300. Chris didn’t know he had that record. He doesn’t know exactly what’s in his collection because, after more than five decades of collecting, it’s just too big.

.