NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. – The LeRoy Morford Collection of Buddy Holly memorabilia will be sold at auction on Dec. 9 by Mid-Hudson Auction Galleries. Absentee and Internet bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

LeRoy Morford was in the fifth grade when he heard the news on KGLO in Mason City, Iowa, of the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Half a continent away an eighth-grade newspaper delivery boy named Don McLean had a rough time delivering newspapers on his afternoon route that day. “February made me shiver” he would write 12 years later for his “American Pie” album, “with every paper I delivered.” And so, it came to be that Feb. 3, 1959 was etched in rock ’n’ roll history as “The Day the Music Died.”

Morford has been a Buddy Holly collector for decades. The auction is composed of thousands of items in more than 500 lots. Records, posters, buttons, pins, books, brochures, photographs, newspapers, china and artworks are all included.

In addition to Buddy Holly, the collection encompasses the history of rock ’n’ roll. Elvis Presley and The Beatles are well represented. A considerable amount of signed material is being offered as well as a limited-edition Gibson 1995 Buddy Holly acoustic guitar and a signed Motley Crew Squier Fender.

Morford’s fully restored 1955 Pontiac Chieftain, The Crickets’ touring car, is included in the sale. Prominent in the offerings is a Cessna 157 Skyhawk airplane in which Buddy Holly took flying lessons together with a Holly signed pilot log book. The plane is offered with rare footage of Buddy Holly and his brother at Champs Aviation in Lubbock, Texas, and a recent detailed historical article written about the plane and the circumstances of Holly’s lessons.

The auction will begin Thursday, Dec. 9, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

For details call Mid-Hudson Auction Galleries at 914-882-7356 or email mag2715jag@aol.com.

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