With the return of vinyl, VHS could see a similar surge in popularity. At least that’s what a recent auction suggests, where a VHS of Back to the Future sold for $75,000 (CAD$97,760).
This is a new auction record for this 1986 videocassette that was sealed and in perfect condition.
However, this VHS was special in that it belonged to actor Tom Wilson, who played the character of Biff Tannen in the legendary 80’s film.
The tape was originally put up for sale on eBay, but given the overwhelming response, the actor chose to hire Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas to hold the auction.
In addition to this format of the first film, other videotapes of the rest of the trilogy were also made available for sale. To make the collection extra special, Tom Wilson offered to put a note on each VHS and sign each shipment.
It was a New York collector who managed to get his hands on the version of the first film at a price that “is the highest ever paid for a sealed and graded VHS tape at auction,” Heritage said Auctions to CNN.
“We had no idea what was going to happen – nobody had done this before and to see the success is amazing,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena told the outlet. “When you see that, it’s a great sense of accomplishment, not even the financial aspect, just a moment of ‘I knew it! I knew nostalgic VHS tapes would be good.”
And many collectors would fight for these video relics, while large sums of money were already being paid for VHS films such as “Jaws” or “Ghostbusters”.