A record, personally signed by assassinated civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, is 'a pretty rare find' and could be worth up to $25,000.
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The 1961 released Folkways Record, 'We Shall Overcome', features songs by the Montgomery Gospel Trio and the Nashville Quartet with Guy Carawan. It is not unusual in itself, but the signature makes it hot property, according to Port Macquarie record store owner Travis Fredericks.
The signatures featured on the album of King and human rights activist Bernard Lafayette are very special.
"It's not the record but the signatures on it that are so significant," said Mr Fredericks.
"These guys were obviously civil rights legends, King himself was the face of the civil rights movement.
"It belongs in a museum really, as an important part of world history.
"You don't often come across things like this. It's a pretty rare find.
"It's very strange because signed records are usually band members, not individuals who have shaped history for a group of people.
"What price could you put on that?"
King was a Baptist minister and activist who led the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.
He is known for a public speech 'I Have a Dream' which called for an end to racism in America.
Among the signatures inside the album cover is an original application to join the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, registered in New York.
It reads: "The Future belongs to all of us Equally .... join NAACT".
There is also a copy of an article from the Philadelphia Tribune from July 26, 1958 with handwritten notes and an original record insert with lyrics.
Mr Fredericks came across the album through family after it was passed from original Australian owner Bill Ford, who brought the item back from the USA when he was a student.
Ford, who studied at the University of Illinois and the University of California Los Angeles, was involved in US civil rights marches.
He later helped organise student 'Freedom Rides' for indigenous Australians through New South Wales in 1965.
Before retirement, Ford became the head of the Department of Industrial Relations at the University of NSW, served as an adviser to the foreign and Federal Governments before he passed away earlier this year.
Mr Fredericks said there was now a plan to return the record to the original owners.
"We have found the original owners and plan to give it back to them," he said.
"Bill originally obtained it in the US, came back and saw the plight of indigenous Australians at home.
"I think it would be good for it to make its way back to the civil rights movement in the States."
The record is scheduled to be on display at the Port Macquarie Record Fair from 10am on July 20.
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