NME Magazine Collection Fetches £2,590 at Auction

A collection of NME magazines, described as “extraordinary,” achieved a sale price exceeding £2,500 at auction. Tony Howard, a 70-year-old resident of Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire, chose to divest himself of his extensive collection, comprising 3,000 magazines. His motivation was to create additional space in his loft and generate funds for concert tickets, with the aim of traveling globally to attend performances by his preferred musical groups. Mr. Howard began accumulating issues of New Musical Express in 1966, at the age of 12, transitioning from reading comics to pursuing his primary passion: music. The auction house John Taylors, located in Louth, had characterized the collection as “perhaps the finest ever to be offered at auction” and had projected a selling price of £3,000 when it was auctioned on Tuesday. Mr. Howard, who previously served two terms as the mayor of Mablethorpe, expressed satisfaction that the items had been sold for “a fair price.” He recounted, “I was sat at the back of the auction room and just taking in all that was going on. “I have to admit as it got closer and closer, I started to get a little bit nervous, thinking, well, what if nobody wants them?” James Laverack, an auctioneer at John Taylors, stated that the collection was divided into three lots, with successful bidders originating from Lincolnshire, Kent, and Scotland. According to Laverack, the portion of magazines spanning the period from 1973 to 2018, which featured the highest number of articles, was acquired by a Scottish buyer for £2,000. Mr. Howard affirmed that he had no regrets regarding the sale of his collection and intended to allocate the funds generated towards attending live music performances. He reflected, “It’s strange that when people start talking about events in the music world that have gone on, I’ve always been able to say ‘Oh, I’ve got a paper all about that.’ I can’t say that anymore but I’ve still got the memories.” He also mentioned being “most amazed” by the level of media attention his music magazine collection garnered. “The biggest thing about the whole event has been the amount of people that have come to me and want to find out about this collection that I was selling,” he stated. He added, “I’ve just been collecting and reading weekly newspapers and, all of a sudden, I’m making the news myself. It seems so odd.”