One of eight known US pressings of Prince’s legendary Black Album (1987) will cross the block at RR Auction on February 15.
The record was planned as the follow up to Prince’s classic 1987 hit Sign o’ the Times.
1987 US pressings of Prince's Black Album are extremely rare
However, after a bad experience on ecstasy Prince decided the album was “evil”. He believed it to be haunted by an entity he referred to as Spooky Electric and forbade Warner Brothers from releasing it – even though around 100 European promo copies were already in circulation.
Instead he put out Lovesexy, which most fans consider a weaker effort.
Prince finally allowed the Black Album to be released in 1994.
While there were a number of 1987 European pressings, US pressings are extremely rare. A former Warner Bros executive found this lot, along with four others, in his attic last year after his daughter asked if he had any old records she could listen to.
Only three had surfaced up until that point.
The extraordinary lot is accompanied by a letter of provenance from Jeff Gold, a former vice president of Warner Bros.
He writes in part: "After opening one copy and confirming it was a genuine 1987 first pressing, they contacted me, a friend and former Warner Bros. colleague.
“The family decided to keep the open copy, but sell the remaining copies through Recordmecca.
“After Rolling Stone magazine wrote an article about the discovery, the story went viral, and the three sealed copies for sale were sold within 24 hours. The copy here is the final sealed copy, in perfect condition."
It's estimated at north of $25,000.
A purple piano gifted to Prince in 1978 will also feature.
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