David Bowie's Hunky Dory acetate to sell

An acetate copy of David Bowie's Hunky Dory is to sell at Catawiki.

The unique lot is valued at £36,070-48,100 ($51,751-69,010), with bidding closing on April 30.

Bowie Hunky Dory
Bowie's BOWPROMO edition of Hunky Dory secured him a record deal

It was created in advance of the famous BOWPROMO edition of the record, which was given out to record executives and secured him a new record deal - this would be his first release with RCA.

Acetate is used for testing the mix before recording to vinyl. It's less durable, meaning it can only be played a few times before it starts to degrade.  

The consignor told the Guardian: "It's quite a funny story on how I came to own it.

"The record had been given to my neighbour as a gift from Mick Ronson's mum and he ended up giving it to me in exchange for a bottle of beer! I kept it for all these years and it's unbelievable to see how much it's now worth."

Interestingly the acetate features the song Bombers, a track that was replaced on the promo and the album by a cover of Biff Rose's Fill Your Heart.

Over the past couple of years there has been some high profile sales of acetates connected with famous performers, including Elvis Presley's My Happiness, which sold for a record $300,000 last year.

You can take a look at all our music memorabilia for sale here.

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