The White Label Auction in Aid of The BRIT Trust has achieved a total hammer price of £44,620.
The money was raised from just over 170 lots that were put up for sale to UK and international collectors and fans to raise funds for the BRIT Trust music charity.
A rare white label 7” test pressing of Queen’s single Bohemian Rhapsody sparked fierce bidding among collectors. It went to a UK buyer, who actually invested £11,000 in all after paying commission.
The Queen test pressing was donated by David Munns OBE, who worked on the EMI campaign to first release it in 1975.
Other big sellers on the day included artist-signed white label copies of new or classic albums by some of the world’s biggest artists. These included signed items by Coldplay (£2,600 for Music Of The Spheres and Live In Buenos Aires combined), Ed Sheeran (£1,200 for Play), Paul Weller (£600 for Find El Dorado), John Lydon (over £2,000 for various Public Image Limited test pressings), Robbie Williams (over £500 for Life Thru’ A Lens and I’ve Been Expecting You combined), and Wolf Alice (£700 for The Clearing).
The auction concluded with a test pressing of Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), which was reissued just last week, fetching an impressive £600.
This total means that the White Label Auction in its six editions to date since 2019 has now generated nearly £200,000 for the music industry’s charity, The BRIT Trust. It works to improve lives through the power of music and the creative arts, and supports causes across the UK that promote education and wellbeing, including its principal beneficiaries The BRIT School and Nordoff And Robbins, as well as ELAM, Music Support and Key4Life, among many others.
The auction was made possible by the generosity of the UK’s recorded music community, who every year donate hundreds of items between them, including Universal Music UK, Warner Music UK, Sony Music UK, AWAL, BMG, Cherry Red Records, Domino Recordings, and others.
As always, my endless thanks to the many artists, managers and record labels who’ve supported the White Label Auction again, and to those that bid so generously to help generate much-needed funding for The BRIT Trust
Johnny Chandler
White Label Auction co-founder and organiser, Johnny Chandler (pictured), said: “Absolutely incredible result today, a reflection of our strongest line-up to date. A beautiful mix of new and established artists, current releases and future classics, legendary albums and that original 7” test pressing of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and bringing in the single biggest amount for a lot that we have ever seen in the White Label Auction to date.
“As always, my endless thanks to the many artists, managers and record labels who’ve supported the WLA again, and to those that bid so generously to help generate much-needed funding for The BRIT Trust. I’m indebted to the WLA team, Gennaro, Julian, Alexi and Sterling for their commitment and hard work and to Dan and all at Omega Auctions.”
Dan Muscatelli-Hampson, Omega Auctions Auction Manager, said: “We were well pleased to achieve a record price paid for this fantastic Queen rarity, coming up just shy of the 50th anniversary of its original release date. The market for vinyl records is incredibly strong at present and we are so pleased that we are in a fortunate position to be able to work with The Brit Trust to support the amazing work that they do.”
Tony Wadsworth CBE, chair of The BRIT Trust, said: “We are blown away by this amazing total and by the generosity of the artists, managers and labels that made it possible. It’s so wonderful that the White Label Auction has been able to tap into the value of items that might otherwise simply gather dust on shelves. Thanks to this auction, they can do so much more good, whether in helping The BRIT Trust to fund music therapists at Nordoff and Robbins, or in contributing to the special extra curricular activities that make The BRIT School the unique place of learning that it is.
“We are hugely grateful to the music community for coming together to support The BRIT Trust in this way, and we also extend our sincere thanks to Johnny Chandler and to the whole White Label Auction team for their brilliant efforts in pulling all this together – I know that a huge amount of work goes into it. Finally, I must personally thank our trustee David Munns OBE for so kindly donating the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ test pressing from his personal collection – the £8,800 it raised by itself will make a big difference to the important work that we do.”
