The World's Rarest Soul Record Pt. 2 ... yes that one!

'That' record ... again  ... the saga continues!

I was going to change the title from rarest to most expensive to be more accurate, as there are some records nearly as rare (Don Gardner, The Inspirations, Joseph Webster, Andantes to name a few), some arguably rarer, where in some cases only one copy is know to exist.  I decided to keep it the same as the original post from 2009. On 14th Sep 2009 I posted an article outlining the history of Frank Wilson's - Do I Love You 45 on Soul S-35109 (which has almost 10,000 views) which sold to an unnamed collector in Humberside for £25,742 in May 2009, after having been previously bought by Edinburgh DJ/Collector Kenny Burrell for £15,000 from Tim Brown who sold the copy bought from Martin Koppel who acquired it from Ron Murphy (a collector and engineer at Motown) who bought it from the ARP pressing plant.

The sold copy signed by Frank Wilson in 2001

On 1st Aug 2020 it was sold again via John Manship, on behalf of the previous buyer, to Lee Jeffries, the son of DJ / Record Dealer Steve Jeffries, for an alleged, staggering £100,000!  Lee has done very well for himself by building a bottling business from scratch and running Sonic Wax records and becoming a multi-millionaire at the age of 38. In the same fortnight he bought a Ferrari 488 and got married.  I hope he doesn't mind me saying, from humble beginnings as I've visited Steve's home many years ago to buy records. No doubt there will be the 'knockers' claiming that he must be mad, but when Kenny Burrell bought the record back in 1999 for a 'snip' at £15,000 the same people were probably saying the same thing.  Who knows if it can appreciate any more in value, but if he's worth millions, does he care?  I wish him well.

I wasn't going to post the track, but John Manship uploaded a video of the 'actual' 45 being played (in July 2020), so how often are you ever likely to see this?  It may well get removed so view it while you can.

Test Pressing

In Nov. 2017 a previously unknown test pressing was discovered. There had been another allegedly found a few years earlier in 2014 which was dismissed on Soul Source as a counterfeit.

The test pressing was discovered by Denise & Dan Zieja, who own Melodies & Memories music store in Eastpointe, Michigan, in a collection that they had bought some years earlier.

The Test Pressing

Denise got in touch with UK record dealer Pete Smith for advice on selling the record and Pete started a thread on Soul Source in Nov 2017.  It is a very long thread (that goes off topic in places) but well worth reading as is packed with information on the pressing process, matrix numbers and stamp marks, if you are that way inclined. Much respect to the informed contributors.

There is a recording of the actual test pressing posted on Soul Source by Pete Smith on 7th Dec 2017 (if it's still there ... it was at the time of this post).

There was a feature in Record Collector Mag on 5th Jan 2018 titled 'Franky goes for dollars, good!' covering the background of how the disc was acquired by the couple.

The record was bought by Detroit musician Jack White of The White Stripes for an undisclosed sum, but 'rumoured' to be $75,000 on or around 6th Feb 2018.  White also owns Third Man Records who reissued it on purple vinyl for Record Store Day 2018. They stated that it would also be issued on black vinyl in future. I don't know if that ever happened.

Denise & Dan Zieja with Jack White and Test Pressing

Denise Zieja posted this notice: Frank Wilson Test Press Stays in Detroit - Jack White & Record Store Day News on Soul Source on 30th Mar 2018 informing members of the Record Store Day 45.

If you want to read the full 'definitive' story about the record then Andy Rix published it on Soul Source in 2012, but it was written before these two further developments, i.e. the discovery of the test pressing and the latest sale of the signed Kenny Burrell copy to Lee Jeffries.

To conclude the story so far, there are 2 known copies of Soul S-35109 white promos, the one above and the copy still owned by Tim Brown (below) which allegedly has an edge warp, and now there is one known copy of a test pressing. It has been suggested, without any evidence, that Berry Gordy has a copy, but I suspect that it is only speculation.  There may possibly be other 'undisclosed' copies in private collections, but the current view is that only 6 were ever pressed and that all but 2 were destroyed, but then no one knew until 2018 that the test press existed!  Watch this space as perhaps news that this one has sold for £100k may entice another out of a collection if it exists?

Tim Brown's copy