A CLASSICAL LP donated to the Oxfam book and music shop in Tavistock has sold on eBay for £586, breaking the record for the most cash made on such an item.

The sale of this one disc — an early recording of two Schubert pieces by violinist Johanna Martzy — will be enough to provide sources of safe drinking water for more than 600 people in the developing world.

Last year the shop sold one of its donated classical LPs for a massive £460, but that record has been well and truly smashed with this latest sale. All but one of the bids, including the winner, came from Japan.

Volunteer Terry Hyde, who looks after the music donations to Oxfam in Tavistock, said: 'Martzy's birth in Transylvania, her premature death in 1979 and the dark tales of sexual intrigue that led to her departure from her record company have all added to the mystique surrounding her name.  

'They have also led to the development of a spectacular market for her recordings, particularly in Japan.  

'Such is the rarity of her records that in the last five years, of the 20,000-plus classical LPs that have been donated to our shop, this is the first one of hers that I have come across.'