Northern Soul fans have already bid in excess of  £11,000 for a rare 7-inch vinyl single, with a week still remaining before the online auction ends.

The London Records’ pressing of Darrell Banks’ club classic “Open the Door to Your Heart” is valued so highly and prized so much because it is believed to be the only copy in existence. It had been thought that all the original London Records versions were destroyed when rival label EMI won the rights to release the track in 1966.

Northern soul fans and aficionados regard the record as “the find of a lifetime”. John Manship, who has been selling rare vinyl records since 1969 and runs the RareSoulMan website, told BBC News that “it is the holy grail for record collectors. He said nobody believed the mythical single existed and that his pulse was racing when he realised it was the most exciting record he had sold in his 48-year career.” The owner of the Darrell Banks “Open the Door to Your Heart” vinyl single, who worked at Decca Records in the 1960s, turned down an original offer of £10,000.

Collector and dealer Pete Smith, who helped identify the validity of the single, describes it as “the rarest British soul record of all time. Hardened collectors are sobbing at the sight of it.” Some collectors believe it could be rarer than Frank Wilson’s Motown single “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)”, which was bought by a collector in Hull in 2009 for more than £25,000.

Darrell Banks, who toured with soul singer Jackie Wilson, only released two albums before he was killed in Detroit in February 1970. He was shot in the neck by an off-duty policeman called Aaron Bullock, who had been having an affair with Banks’s girlfriend. His song “Open the Door to Your Heart” was his only hit, achieving No2 on the R&B chart in the US.

A vinyl single does not have to be worth a fortune to have a value to you……

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Framed vinyl records, framed CDs, framed DVDs & framed book covers with a personalised plaque, make unique presents or original gifts for a special celebration  / special occasion ie a Wedding ( Wedding First Dance Song ), an Engagement Party ( Our Song ), a House Warming Party ( New Home ), a 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th Birthday ( How about the No1 song on the day of birth? ), a Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!!  THE PERFECT