You can find a lot of great bargains at the Hub & Rebound stores at the corner of Mill and Bridge Streets — gently used clothes, home furnishings, toys, games and more.
And sometimes, just maybe, you can find music gold. Recently a customer was flipping through old 45 rpm records at Rebound and came across what turned out to be an extremely rare item featuring Canada’s Neil Young. He was able to resell it for $1,000 and returned to the store to share the net profit equally.
The customer was Almonte’s Allan Brown and the record was “The Sultan,” recorded by Winnipeg band The Squires in 1963. On the B side was “Aurora.” It features a teenaged Young on guitar — he also wrote both tunes — in what was his first recording session. Only 300 copies were pressed and those were distributed at Squires shows. Few survive, making it a sought-after piece of Canadian music history. In the past, copies have sold for as much as $4,000, although prices have dropped as more have come to light.
An avid record collector — he has 500 albums for sale at Big Vintage on Mill Street — Allan didn’t immediately know what he had found but a light did go off. After researching the record that he paid fifty cents for, he realized its value and listed it for sale for $1,500 on the international collectors’ platform Discogs. An offer came in very soon for $1,000. He waited for a day to see if any more would arrive — none did so the offer was accepted and the record shipped to its new owner. After expenses, the profit came to $902. Allan said it was only appropriate to split that equally with The Hub & Rebound “because of the amazing work they do and the organizations they support here in Mississippi Mills.”
