Music fan marks 50th by selling Neil Young vinyls

Londoner Pete Anderson is clearing out his vinyl collection ahead of his 50th birthday

A Londoner's lifetime collection of 1,500 vinyl records, including one of the world's rarest singles, could fetch up to £20,000 at auction.

Pete Anderson owns 120 records by music legend Neil Young including the highly sought-after The Sultan/Aurora by The Squires, Neil Young's first band.

Claire Howell, music memorabilia consultant at Hansons Auctioneers said: "It’s one of the best lifetime collections of vinyl I have ever seen in my life."

The music fan said he wanted to sell his beloved collection ahead of his 50th birthday as he wanted to lead a more minimalist lifestyle and travel more.

"Prior to locating a seller, I’d been searching for this rare and seemingly elusive The Sultan/Aurora double A-side vinyl for the best part of 10 years," said Mr Anderson.

While he did find a UK-based seller, they were not prepared to sell the the vinyl but he subsequently found a seller in Neil Young's home country.

Mr Anderson spent a decade searching for the "elusive" The Sultan/Aurora vinyl

"This in turn required me to chance it by flying 4,000 miles to Winnipeg, Canada, in 2009 to obtain the final missing vinyl of my Neil Young collection," Mr Anderson said.

"I was lucky to buy the vinyl from a private collector who’d owned his copy since its original release in 1963."

Mr Anderson added that after some "back and forth" negotiation, he bought the copy for £2,170.

Neil Young features heavily in Mr Anderson's collection

Ms Howell said the collection could "achieve £20,000 or more" when it goes under the hammer as it will attract "vinyl junkies the world over".

Among other rarities to be auctioned off are a Hawks & Doves 1980 LP produced by Reprise Records and the original movie soundtrack album Where The Buffalo Roam.

Ms Howell said the collection is "one of the best" she has ever seen

Claire said: "Many people have vintage vinyl record collections gathering dust at home but this is something else.

"Vinyl is very much in vogue and this auction should be a smash hit with collectors."

The auction will take place on 3 July.