Gold Record

When local photographer Eric Rife was a clerk at Off the Record, he saw his share of valuable records. He now works at the San Diego Central Library. In late October, the library had a record and book sale. He rummaged through the records and found an album called The Stars Salute Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Signatures of Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr., written in felt-tip pen, were on the cover.

"Having worked at a record store, we never had a way to prove if an autograph was real," says Rife. "So, we didn't pay more for them." He assumed these two signatures weren't genuine either. He turned the album over and saw a ballpoint signature of Martin Luther King Jr. Rife did some research and says he has no doubt the autographs are authentic. He estimates the album's worth at over two grand. He bought it for a dollar.