A HUGE “rock and retro” auction, which featured hundreds of signed LPs and records, brought in a whopping £50,000.

The auction, held at Stacey’s Auctioneers, sold a variety of collections, including signed memorabilia and LPs from The Smiths, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Morrissey, and Neil Young.

Rob Smee, the music specialist at the Rayleigh auctioneers, told the Echo more than 500 records were sold, totalling £50,000.

The 44-year-old, said: “This was a particularly good sale.

“More than £30,000 was generated from one vendor from Chelmsford who recently died.

“He spent his life collecting signed records and CDs. We also had a Yamaha keyboard on sale, which had been frequently used by Basildon band Depeche Mode.

Unfortunately, this didn’t sell but will be up for auction again soon. We had all sorts of instruments on sale, including Fender and Gibson guitars.”

Stacey’s Auctioneers, a family-run business, was founded in 1947, and specialise in jewellery, antiques, and music, and hold auctions on a monthly basis.

The rock and retro auction, held on Saturday September 14, proved popular amongst collectors and bidders, with signed items selling from £40 up to £150.

At the auction, there was plenty of vinyl records that were not signed, which included The Jackson 5 and dozens of David Bowie albums.

Mr Smee, described how the business is family orientated. He added: “It’s a small, family run business. LPs are really popular at the minute. They are flying. Our auctions are dictated by what’s popular at the time.

“We never know what’s around the corner.

“Our music auctions are held bi-annually, with the next one in April.

“There was a lot of online interest. This is the way it’s going. Eventually, in ten years time there won’t be any bids made in person anymore.”