World’s Largest Record Collection

by Charles Cheng, August 19, 2008

In today’s world, everyone downloads and buys music from the internet, making physical record albums obsolete, which is very sad news for Paul Mawhinney. Paul has the world’s largest record collection that he has been accumulated throughout his lifetime. He used to run a record store, and he would always put away the last copy of an album for himself. Due to his declining health and old age, Paul has decided to put the collection on sale for a mere $3 million when it was appraised at a whooping $50 million, yet no one has given a solid offer. Regardless of our technological advances, sometimes holding an album in your hands just feels a little bit different.

34 Comments

  1. Posted by: hoyt on October 24, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    this is music history.if i could i would turn this collection into a museum.paul you are a vinyl monarch.this is a lifetime of music. many years of music history in its purest form.i am 52 years old and can relate to the history of albums and singles.all music.may the music be with you.

  2. Posted by: polocorp on September 18, 2008 at 8:35 am

    that’s sooo dope. this guy deserves more than what he’s getting. Hope someone with good intentions picks up the collection archivbes it and maybe they could even put the exclusive material in digital format…

    ok I’m missing the point !!

  3. Posted by: Evan on September 2, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    I think one of the reasons it won’t sell is because of the quantity.

    Sad.

  4. Posted by: arcm on August 28, 2008 at 6:04 am

    i still buy vinyl, and i’ll never stop.
    wonder how much electronica he has..

  5. Posted by: DJ Alan Bentley on August 28, 2008 at 2:29 am

    Dude I’m a vinyl JUNKIE, I love spinning mad vinyl, I can do a 8 hr set with two carry bags. THIS DUDE ROCKS!!

  6. Posted by: Jimbo on August 22, 2008 at 11:33 am

    goddamnit! This makes me sad! If I had 3,1 million I would easily buy it. come on fellow hypebeast, let’s open up a account for this man!

  7. Posted by: ghander on August 21, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    that person never paid for it

  8. Posted by: Jack on August 21, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    Looks like its already sold guys - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08052/859280-100.stm

  9. Posted by: Kahron on August 21, 2008 at 6:26 am

    If I had the $3 million - I’m copping this…….with no hesitation. If I could, I’d hire a cat just to keep my music pristine and in order.

  10. Posted by: Seth on August 20, 2008 at 11:26 pm

    to bad, I would totally carry his collection on and further into archiving. I do somethine similar myself, but on a smaller scale. Currently around 12K in store stock and 4K in personal stock

  11. Posted by: Jerome on August 20, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    This guy is a fucking douche - he is the complete opposite of music. Collectors are soulless idiots. Of course, analog is way better than digital, but this guy misses the point of music completely, he has no soul.

  12. Posted by: ghander on August 20, 2008 at 9:54 pm

    whatever dude.. you bought a bunch of crappy music and now you cant sell it for millions of dollars. get over it. 50 million my ass. 3 million my ass.. you’re not gonna sell it for more than 500k. you want some money for it? put it on ebay with no reserve and have people buy it for fair market value. i’m guessing 75% is junk that’s going to go straight in the dumpster. the other 25% people are going to have to dedicate their whole life to selling online for years to even make a profit.

  13. Posted by: Mari4ko on August 20, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    Respect :)

  14. Posted by: Ed on August 20, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    massive respect to this guy - must have tons of dubplates :)

  15. Posted by: Miami on August 20, 2008 at 10:03 am

    Great testimony from the XXth century. Make me think future is shit.

  16. Posted by: Web Hustler on August 20, 2008 at 3:37 am

    Step up and cop this collection Kanye… instead of wasting it on coke and whores…

  17. Posted by: AO on August 20, 2008 at 2:12 am

    Damn I wish I had the 3 mill…Hell, I wish I had 3 hours just to talk to the guy…The music knowledge that he has is incredible…Imagine talking to someone with $50 mill worth of kicks…jeez

  18. Posted by: tomagachipimp on August 19, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    seriously im goin to guitar center on friday to get my collection on…where does this guy live if hes close to ny id definantly pay him a visit

  19. Posted by: van on August 19, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    u would think some kind of museum/library would step up to the offer.

  20. Posted by: SKAM LECRAM on August 19, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    great piece. great story. amazing indiviual. f*ck flipboi69.

  21. Posted by: The Dude on August 19, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Great story. Compelling..

  22. Posted by: madne$$ on August 19, 2008 at 8:35 pm

    this is amazing.

  23. Posted by: j.martinez on August 19, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    Kanye West is going to buy this… a soon as he see this post! ./theend

  24. Posted by: diggin in the crates on August 19, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    why the fuck dosent kanyes sampling ass just buy that shit? 3 mil is nuttin for him

  25. Posted by: Shinchi on August 19, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    That’s the most amazing thing, I’ve seen.

  26. Posted by: pacelli on August 19, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    seriously…this man is a true believer in the power and soul of music and deserves the respect of the whole music community….seriously…theres has to be someone out there intrseted in owning and&or preserrving that legendary collection

  27. Posted by: gg on August 19, 2008 at 5:00 pm

    wowww… now im ah start buying records because he jus made think to mi self that music had changed alot

  28. Posted by: Jacob The Producer on August 19, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    As a musician and the son of one, this guy is a friend to our art. You can see his sincerity and passion for music as a whole. I’m going to speak to some venture capitalists and see if anyone will put up the money for the collection. Someone better keep this thing alive. I wonder why the Library of Congress doesn’t pick it up. Thanks for the post Hypebeast. http://www.myspace.com/jacobtheproducer

  29. Posted by: hash on August 19, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    Holy fookin shit. This guy is a saint for his record collection. If I had dough I’d buy it for 10 mil and build a library for the records in his name holy fooken shit.

  30. Posted by: Bustin Fabulous on August 19, 2008 at 4:39 pm

    That’s sad. If I made beats for a living, I would buy all the records.

  31. Posted by: flipboi69 on August 19, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    not worth hypebeast viewing.

  32. Posted by: JR on August 19, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    damn. if i had dough, i’d cop that in a heartbeat!! this dude gets maaadd respect.

  33. Posted by: 3000 on August 19, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    damn man thats pretty sad…it cost 50mil and selling it for 3mil…come on any celebritiy can buy it easily and help keep it alive