Between The Covers: Caribou Ranch Auctioned For Gold
by Torch
Caribou Ranch held one of the world’s most famous recording studios. Jim Guercio converted a barn on his 4,000 acre ranch into the studio in 1972, and sadly it burned down in 1985. In the time span it was open over 150 artists recorded there such as: Chicago, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchel, Tom Petty, The Beach Boys, U2, Phil Collins, and a huge list of talent. It was THE place to record an album. Artists stayed on the ranch in cabins that were all beautifully decorated in various western themes. Jim didn’t reopen the studio. He eventually donated a large portion of the land to Boulder County, and more than two decades later he sold the remaining 1,600 acre ranch for just over 32.5 Million dollars.
On January 24th, all the contents from Caribou Ranch that didn’t burn went up for sale at an auction in the Denver.
The room held only about a third of the people who showed up to be a part of the sale. The hallway was jammed with people and they ran short of bidding paddles and resorted to writing numbers on sheets of paper for registered bidders. It was hot and stuffy like opening fresh steamed rolls in an already warm kitchen buzzing with a feast. Hungry, everyone was hungry for a slice of music history, a chance to hold an own an item that was maybe used by, or admired by, or had a brush with some of the greatest musicians Rock and Roll has ever known.
A simple brass bed frame sold for just over $1,700 an amount exceeded it’s suggested value by $1500 because it John Lennon slept in that bed. Other similar beds sold for as low as $220-$688. It is that brush with a moment in time that people were buying. Everyone took the chance to touch or play a piano played by Elton John and Carole King, Billy Joel and more divine fingers. The famous Steinway Grand Piano bid out just over 90K bringing a total after fees to just over 110K!! All the instrumental items fetched outrageous prices $531 for a duck taped cowbell, $344 for a triangle with wooden striker. (Yes that is the same instrument you got in grade school when you had no natural talent or ability to sing, ting, ting.) Those were originally valued between $20-$40. This was a completely emotionally driven sale; the original approximate prices had nothing to do with what took place at the auction, an ashtray and a book of matches sold for $500! It took only seconds for something you started bidding on to go from the possible price range to the “holy shit!” price range where you froze as so not to even mistakenly bid.
One of the auctioneers was so funny as two guys were in a bidding war over a ladies Caribou Ranch t-shirt, she paused the bidding for a second and added pointing at the men telling them, “You know it’s not going to fit either one of you.” We all laughed and it continued at $10 increments up to $170 plus fees. There were a few good deals on some of the Victorian furniture but anything that had CR emblazed on it, sold for bags of gold. The auction started at 3:00 in the afternoon and ended around midnight far exceeding any expectations as the bidding of so many people wanting their piece of the pie took a long time. The auction house had bottled water, soda, and beers, which ran out along with some snacks, which ran out. Nobody anticipated the size of the crowd and the draw of the added internet bidders.
The unspoken sentiment was one of sadness, a time frame passed, an era gone, something incredibly special was gone and being dismantled before our eyes one piece at a time. There was a viewing prior to the auction, and you could buy a book with the list of items for $30. People walked around gently touching everything, telling stories about moments in music and dreaming of this special place. I learned that the gold album was usually not the actual album demonstrated by the Dan Fogelberg gold album which had more tracks in the grooves than song titles, it was something like five songs on the front side and seven tracks. My partner in crime taught me that one. He later went on and bought three GIANT western themed photographs that had to be hauled home in a truck. I wanted the old ranch bell that sounded the time for meals; it sold for $13,750. The question we all pondered was, if the fire hadn’t burned the studio, what other great music would have come from the incomparable Caribou Ranch?
The grand total of the night was just over $850,000.
Category: Buzzworthy2
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