Rare copy of Prince's disavowed 'Black Album' found in Canada

TORONTO -- A rare copy of Prince's disavowed "Black Album" has turned up for sale in Canada.

The L.A.-based memorabilia company Recordmecca is offering a previously unknown vinyl copy on its online marketplace Discogs.com, billing it "one of the rarest records in the world."

The site says the copy is so rare that a Canadian version had never even been rumoured to exist.

Recordmecca owner Jeff Gold says it comes from a former Toronto pressing plant employee, who kept a single copy in 1987 when the entire run was ordered destroyed.

Prince cancelled "The Black Album" one week before its planned release in December 1987 and paid for the destruction of more than 500,000 copies that had already been produced. The site says only eight U.S. copies have surfaced. Gold sold one at auction in February 2018 for $42,298.

The Canadian disc is listed for sale at US$27,500.

"The all-important vinyl disc is in near mint condition, having been played perhaps 2-3 times," says the website.

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