The original “Monster Mash” single spent two weeks at the top of the charts in October 1962, providing a whimsical respite to America’s anxiety over the Cuban Missile Crisis. Reissued twice, the single reached Number 91 in 1970 and Number 10 in 1972. All are desirable collectibles, but the original 45, with its ghoulish sleeve, is the most sought after and can be found for less than $20 online.

The top 20 “Monster Mash” album, also from 1962, is the holy grail of dual Halloween/vinyl collectibles. The mono and stereo versions currently book at $150 and $250, respectively, in the Goldmine catalog of American records, although high-grade copies can usually be found online for considerably less. The rare LP contains the title cut and fifteen other tracks, all in the same party-hearty vein

“Monster Mash” was the brainchild of Bobby Pickett and Lenny Capizzi, fellow members of the Cordials, a singing group that gigged around Los Angeles in the early 1960s. A horror-movie aficionado and aspiring actor, Pickett had long since perfected his spot-on impression of actor Boris Karloff’s distinctive, debonair-but-spooky baritone and used it to show-stopping effect in the monologue portion of the Cordials’ performance of “Little Darlin’.”

Determined to fully exploit Pickett’s talent, the friends spent just two hours concocting the story of an impromptu monster party in a mad scientist’s castle and setting it to a simple, four-chord melody. Their demo caught the fancy of producer/arranger Gary Paxton, who recruited an all-star band (including the Ventures’ Mel Taylor on drums and legend-to-be Leon Russell on piano) to back up Pickett’s Karloffian homage. Legend has it the Crypt-Kickers, as the band was dubbed, recorded the song in one take.

Four major labels slammed the door in Paxton’s face. Undaunted, he pressed a thousand copies of “Monster Mash” (the title capitalized on the then-current Mashed Potato dance craze) on his own label, Garpax, and hand delivered them to deejays along the California coast. The song’s witty lyrics, boss sound effects and surf-rock vibe caught on in a flash, propelling the song to number one in eight weeks (with a little help from a contract with London Records) and making Bobby “Boris” Pickett a household name.

Song’s fans range from Boris Karloff to Bob Dylan

Over the years, artists as diverse as TV horror-flick host Zacherley, the Beach Boys and Mannheim Steamroller have covered “Monster Mash,” but Pickett’s version remains the Halloween mainstay. Boris Karloff paid Pickett the ultimate tribute when he performed the song on the Halloween eve segment of TV’s “Shindig” in 1965. Other famous fans include novelty-song maven Dr. Demento and Bob Dylan, who has played it on his XM Satellite Radio show. The song’s appeal was apparently lost on Elvis Presley, however, who reportedly dissed it as “stupid.”

“Monster’s Holiday,” a Christmas sequel to “Monster Mash” that reached #30 in 1962, was Pickett’s only other major chart appearance. Pickett toured tirelessly in oldies shows, introducing performances with the quip, “I’d like to perform a medley of my hit.” He died from leukemia in 2007 at the age of 69.

Resurrected every Halloween, this monster boogie classic stands alone among offbeat vinyl collectibles.

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Some bloomin’ collectibles

An English woman packed away stockings she inherited from her mother. Now 82, Mary Youings decided to put them up for auction with a listing of £150 to £200. (That’s approximately $265 to $350.)

Imagine the former teacher’s surprise and delight when the gavel came down at $14,000. Oh, did we fail to mention her mother wasn’t the first owner of the stockings? That would have been Queen Victoria. The BBC reports that the “auction house believes the quality of the hand stitching, the black and white two-tone silk finish and the fact they include the Royal Crest is evidence that they were worn by the queen in the 1870s.”

Fifty-inch bloomers once worn by the queen brought in $8,000 at the same auction near Derby, England.

Fired-up collectibles

At least Queen Victoria’s collectibles were in good shape.

Rock ’n’ roll legend Jimi Hendrix had a penchant for, well, getting fired up during performances. Hendrix was filmed burning his guitar at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. In the same year, he torched his Fender Stratocaster guitar while performing in England.

Somehow the damaged instrument ended up the garage of the parents of Hendrix’s publicist, Tony Garland. More than 40 years later, Garland came across the guitar and didn’t some hmmming, wondering if it was worth anything.

Try $497,5000 of worth something, according to the Associated Press. Other items sold at the same London auction were the Beatles’ first contract with manager Brian Epstein ($426,000), Elvis Presley’s application to carry a concealed weapon in California and as an added bonus, a set of his fingerprints ($81,740), a bathrobe worn by John Lennon in the 1960s ($7,000) and a silk scarf Margaret Thatcher sported in 1979 ($700).

Collectibles auction tinged with sadness

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was killed in a home invasion last year in Miami. Last weekend, contents of his Washington-area estate were put up for auction with proceeds going into a trust fund for his infant daughter who was reportedly left out of the will.

One attendee told the The Washington Post that he was “tore up” by Taylor’s death and was “getting goose bumps talking about it now.”

There was wide array of items from a couple of bars of Irish Spring soap to a 9-mm German handgun. Interspersed among the fishing poles and Fabreze were only a few true collectibles, a rack of custom Cowboys/Redskins billiard balls for one, a signed Redskins football for another.

Joyce Brooks of Brooks auctions reported that $7,375.50 was raised for the fund. The Brooks commission, she said, is between 30 and 50 percent.

I think everyone who is a collector has something as part of their colletion that they have no real justifacation for owning. For me, it’s old bootleg albums. I’ve accumulated over 250 of these things in the past few years and god knows why…I never listen to them. Regardless, their history and taboo nature in the record collecting field is pretty facinating.

The first rock bootleg is believed to be Bob Dylan’s “Great White Wonder”. Released circa 1969 in a no frills hand-stamped white jacket, it contained previously unreleased studio recordings from the early 60s. It caught the attention of the record buying public via underground magazines and hippie distribution circles. What would follow was a flood of live/demo material by just about any and every band of note. Pink Floyd, the Doors, Grateful Dead, Dylan, the Who, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles were all heavily bootlegged. Anyone with access to the tapes and a pressing plant could produce their own boot.

The sound quality of many bootlegs is mediocre AT BEST. Tape hiss, excessive crowd noise and cheap pressings were not uncommon. I have one Who boot where you can hear the audience’s chitter chatter ten times louder than the band itself (infact, you can’t really hear the band at all!). However, some boots are considered true classics and held in high regard by fans. Many recordings that originally appeared on bootlegs would later turn up on officially released albums and collections. Tracks from Dylan’s “Great White Wonder” were issued in the 70’s as “Basement Tapes” and Frank Zappa did a whole series called “Beat the Boots” where he pretty much bootlegged the bootlegs!

The vinyl bootleg’s heyday was certainly through the 1970s into the 80s. Early bootleggers would commonly travel across the country selling to local headshops, record stores and at concerts out the back of their vans . Many vinyl (and far more CD) bootlegs continued to be produced through the 90s and some are still being released to this day. Recently, I’ve seen Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse boolegs on wax. Even with the ease of finding much of this material for free on online download sites, these new boots show how important it is for a lot of collectors to have this material on vinyl.

While bootlegs are of a dubious and not-so-legal status, they’ve accumulated a solid fan base and legitimacy in the collecting world. Some bands have been friendly (or have at least turned a blind eye to) letting others sell bootlegs of their material. Others monitor online auction sites and pull any offending releases. If you have any old boots collecting dust in the basement, I’d recommend doing your research before trying to sell them in a public forum.

Finding Shakespeare

In December 1998, a rare collection of works by William Shakespeare, along with other literary antiques, was stolen from an exhibition of English literature of the Middle Ages at Durham University in northern England. According to an article in Reuters London, there was no news of the stolen literature or documents until late last month when the first folio edition of the Shakespeare volume, published in 1623 and valued at $29.65 million, showed up at a library in the U.S.

The British Embassy alerted American police that a man brought in a rare Shakespeare volume for appraisal at “a respected library in Washington [D.C.]” The 51-year-old claimed to have bought the book in Cuba when he left it for experts at the library to examine. The FBI and Interpol traced the man to England, where he was arrested and taken in for questioning. An article in The Guardian gave details on the suspect, Ray Scott, whom neighbors described as “slightly eccentric.” The Guardian article includes a detailed description of the rare Shakespeare volume deemed a “national treasure” and “one of the world’s most valuable books.”

Politically Collectible

A private collection of political kitsch “to rival the Smithsonian’s” was the legacy Jordan Wright left behind upon his death in May. According to The New York Times, the 50-year-old political collector was planning a Museum of Democracy to house all of his 1.25 million pieces. Choice souvenirs through the ages include “slogan embossed tobacco tins and chamber pots, racist rag dolls, Gore-Lieberman yarmulkes, John Kerry flip-flop sandals and President W.’s ‘dum gum.’” A sampling of Wright’s collectibles treasure can be viewed at the Museum of the City of New York .

Beatles Drum Skin Brings in Record Price

An item from the Beatles’ album cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” fetched a little more than $1 million at Christie’s of London this month. According to Bloomberg News, bidding rose to five times the low estimate for the drum skin that clocked in at the “second-highest ever paid for a piece of Beatles memorabilia.”

Paying Más for Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas is the highest-paid living female artist, and she’s having an excellent summer with the combination of recent high sales at Sotheby’s and the first American retrospective of her work. The Huffington Post portrays the South African-born, Dutch painter as “sunny” and “honest” during a lecture on her work at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art last month. The artist’s work has been described as vulgar, controversial and even gruesome. Dumas’ “The Visitor” sold at Sotheby’s this month for more than $6.3 million.

Baseball Fans Converged on FanFest

Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Convention Center was converted into “wall-to-wall baseball” this month before the All-Star game, The New York Times reported. Fans enjoyed shopping for memorabilia, trying their skill in video batting-and-pitching cages and lining up for autographs and collectibles from former All-Stars. Yahoo Sports spoke to Yogi Berra for the legend’s take on the massive event. He said he was impressed by the spectacle the All-Star game has become as he got ready to say goodbye to the old Yankee Stadium in its final series of games. The Times also reported that card dealers flocked to FanFest from all over the country. One, Jim Tripodi, expected to sell “tens of thousands of dollars” worth of collectibles cards.

The word band is simply not enough to describe the phenomenon known as Kiss. Their pounding rhythms, soaring guitars, over the top persona and spectacular stage show have built the group a legion of dedicated fans. However, the world has seen and heard a number of successful bands, what sets Kiss apart to a collector is the extensive catalog of memorabilia they have produced over the years. Formed in 1973 New York City, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss adopted comic book like personas to separate their band from the rest of the landscape. Their initial albums sold slowly, but the band crafted a following with their outrageous make-up and larger than life, elaborate stage shows. The band was able to capture the excitement of their live shows on the live recording album Alive! The success came pouring in, and 35 years later Kiss have sold over 80 million albums and garnered 34 gold albums. I myself have never been a fan of the group, my experience with the group is like most, I know their biggest hit “Rock and Roll All Nite” and few of their other songs. Yet I have always marveled at the magnitude of their merchandise, there is practically a Kiss anything. From simple action figures to slippers, board games, coffee, there is even a Kiss casket! To gain further insight I recently spoke with two members of the Kiss Army to find out more about these dedicated collectors and what they love about Kiss. I talked to 47 year old Robert, who grew up with the band. He said the band “sang to him” as a teenager. Their rebellious nature was a mirror image of his own teenage angst, he wanted to emulate his idols so much that he created his own platform boots like Gene wore. Robert told me he had a number of prized personal collectibles such as ticket stubs dating back to the early 80s, his full collection of all original Kiss albums, and never published photographs from a New Orleans press conference in the mid 80s. He also showed me his drumhead from the 1996 Psycho Circus tour and a limited edition signature series Paul Stanley guitar. It was released for only one weekend at a Target, he waited in line for hours, purchased it for two hundred dollars, and that guitar can now be found going for 4 times the price. I also spoke with 36 year old Tammie, whose older brothers infected her with the Kiss bug at the age of six, and the next year she was dressed as Ace Frehley for Halloween. She loved Kiss because they were “different than everyone else” in the music industry. She loved the spectacle of the theatrical stage show. Tammie has attended a few Kiss conventions and recommends those for collectible purchases as opposed to the internet. Her personal favorite collectible is her Kiss watch with the Dynasty album cover on it, originally released in 1979. Kiss’ bravado and imagery have infatuated millions of fans worldwide, 35 years later and the band is still selling out stadiums and stamping their likeness on myriad new merchandise. Kiss collectors have a nearly unlimited arsenal of materials with which to build and enhance their collections.

Those lyrics are featured among Renard’s rock and pop collectibles that will be auctioned by Christie’s of London. The lyrics will go on public view in New York on May 7-20 and in London on July 5. They will be auctioned on July 10.

The entire Renard collection is valued at about $600,000. But Lennon collectibles frequently sell for far more than their presale estimates. His handwritten lyrics for “All You Need Is Love” sold for $1,250,000 in 2005, and in 2003 the lyrics for “Nowhere Man” lyrics sold for $455,500.

“Give Peace a Chance” is recognized as one of Lennon’s most influential solo works; a half-million protesters sang the song outside of the White House.

Among collectors, what are known as “working lyrics” are among the most valuable items related to popular artists. That’s because they show the artist’s creative process including notes, re-writes and crossed-out text. Lennon gave Renard the lyrics in 1969 in the midst of his famous eight-day “bed-in” to protest the Vietnam War with his new wife, Yoko Ono.

Now a comedy writer, Renard was a teenage fan who sneaked past security guards at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal and wound up befriending the famous couple. The song was recorded in the hotel room with celebrity friends and later touched up in the studio.

Worthologist Chris Hughes said the question surrounding these lyrics is not their authenticity, but whether the document represents a song-in-progress. As there were many participants in Lennon’s Montreal “Bed-In,” who sang “Give Peace a Chance,” Hughes wonders whether the lyrics could be a copy that Lennon made for his guests.

“Although these lyrics are penned by Lennon, they may have been used along with other duplicates for his guests to sing from,” Hughes said.

In 2007, a lock of Lennon’s hair sold for $48,000. It was collected by his stylist and tucked inside an autographed copy of Lennon’s book “A Spaniard in the Works.”

In 2005, the white suit that Lennon wore on the cover of “Abbey Road,” the Beatles’ final album, sold for $117,000.

For more information about Worthologist Chris Hughes

Christie’s Press Release on the Lennon lyrics auction