What do we have here?
I have a bone record.
Um, what is a bone record?
It's an X-ray.
It's like an X-ray record that they used for, like,
banned music back in the day.
You know, it's definitely an X-ray of something,
it looks like.
It looks like boobs.
It's not boobs.
Maybe I'm just seeing things.
A bone record is, like, a final X-ray
that they used to get banned music
on back in the '40s and '50s.
I'm going to try to sell it for $500.
If I get the full $500, I am going
to spend the money on recording an album for my band.
I am just sort of, like, baffled by it.
Where did you get this thing?
My grandpa.
He gave it to me 'cause I played music.
And I can't do anything with it.
So I'm assuming it's Russian?
Yes.
It's from Russia.
My family's actually from Russia, so--
I've never heard the term "bone record,"
but I remember hearing about how the bootleg
records in Eastern Europe--
they would press records on X-rays
because up until the Berlin Wall came down,
the Soviet Union at the time didn't like Western culture.
They weren't allowed to have Western music.
This is how they sort of bootlegged them.
This was the Soviet Union.
You did what they told you to do.
And if you had any contraband, they sent you to the Gulag.
You went to a work camp and worked there until you died.
That was their system of government.
I feel like I'm in a gulag.
Not until the Berlin Wall came down
in 1989 was Western music allowed in the Soviet Union.
It was illegal to own any type of record
making device, recorder.
It was even illegal to own a printing
press or a Xerox machine.
So it makes sense that they make music on an X-ray.
It's kind of weird, but that's the materials they had,
and that's all they could do.
So have you ever played their album, or the record?
No. No.
I've never played it.
You had to have, like, a special record player to play it,
and I don't--
I don't even know where to get one.
OK.
So I'm assuming you want to sell it.
Yes.
And how much do you want to sell it for?
$500?
That seems like a very arbitrary number.
Yes.
Do you mind if I call in my music guy?
Yeah.
I'm just completely baffled with it.
No. - This is--
Go ahead.
I mean, for all I know, it could be worth $5,
or it could be worth $5,000.
So give me a few minutes, OK?
Will do.
I think it's great that an expert comes in because I
know nothing about it.
So it'd be interesting to see what he has to say.
So this is it.
Have you seen these things before?
I've heard of them.
I've never actually messed with one before.
It's made on an X-ray?
MAN: Yeah.
JESSE AMOROSO: Yeah.
It was probably Russian.
Western music was illegal.
So these guys would bootleg stuff.
They made them on whatever material they had.
So X-rays were probably pretty regularly available.
You know, bone records are kind of collectible, you know?
You get these guys that are obsessive about records
and the history of it.
And they're a neat thing to have in your collection
that you show, like, oh, yeah.
Well, you got that.
Well, I've got one of these, you know, kind of thing.
So do you think this thing'll play?
It might.
I'll put it on here and play it, but it might, like, cut
a spiral in it or destroy it.
I don't know if it's going to work or not.
OK, go.
JESSE AMOROSO: All right.
Risk is on you guys, man.
[MUSIC - THE FOUR LADS, "ISTANBUL
(NOT CONSTANTINOPLE)"]
It sounds like somebody is killing somebody.
JESSE AMOROSO: Yeah, it does kind of.
I can understand why the Russians were always so angry.
JESSE AMOROSO: You know, it's probably 50 years old,
so who knows what it sounded like when they first did it.
It might've been pretty decent.
What are these things worth?
JESSE AMOROSO: Stuff like this kind of falls--
it's a copy.
It's like saying, well, I got a cassette
tape of the Beatles' "White Album," you know what I mean?
It's a copy.
It is a rarity and stuff like that--
I get it.
--and there aren't that many of them.
But there's people asking $200, $300
bucks for 'em, but I don't--
I've never seen one sold for that much.
They usually sell right around $80 or $100.
That's usually what they end up selling for.
OK.
OK. Well, thanks, man.
I just--
JESSE AMOROSO: Yeah, no problem, dude.
--wanted to get an idea on it.
JESSE AMOROSO: Yeah.
Hope it helped.
All right.
Catch you guys later.
I think it's kind of a cool buy for Rick
just because it's something he's never seen before.
You know, it's the first one I've
ever actually put my hands on.
It's kind of a rare thing.
If nothing else, he gets it, right?
It's cool for just a conversation piece in the shop.
So I'll give you $30.
$30?
Um, jeez.
He said $200, so I--
I'd like to start there if anything.
Well, no.
He said he's seen people ask as much as that.
But he's seen them sell for, like, $80 or $100.
Right.
Like he said, it's an oddity.
It's just-- it's one of those weird things.
[SIGHS] I'll tell you what.
I'll give you $50, and I won't give you a dime more.
Um, yeah, that's fine.
OK.
All right, sweet. - That's good.
Good deal. - Thanks, man.
I'll meet you right over there, and I'll write you up.
Oh, no.
As a matter of fact, this guy will write you up.
All right. Got it.
If I would've got the $500, I would
have recorded with my band.
But since I'm gettin' $50, I'm just going to go
buy an album at the store.