Five pristine copies of Prince's rarest and "most expensive album of all time" have been found

Back in 1987, late icon Prince was preparing to release his 16th studio album dubbed 'The Black Album' thanks to its nondescript, entirely black sleeve. However, just ahead of its intended release date, the singer experienced a "spiritual epiphany" that led him to believe that the album was evil. He immediately stalled the release, recalled all 500,000 copies and demanded that they were destroyed. Later on, the label was allowed to sell the album on CD and cassette, but never again on vinyl, making it one of the most coveted rare waxes to date.

What remained were some 100 promotional copies in Europe and a handful in the United States made with no printed title, artist name, production credits or photography. Following Prince's death last year, an original promo copy sold for a whopping $15,000, giving it the title as the most expensive record to be sold on Discogs.

To many Prince fans' delight, five pristine copies of the promotional 'Black Album' have resurfaced thanks to a former Warner Bros. Records employee, who discovered the treasures after hunting through boxes in his closet at the request of his daughter, who had recently purchased her first record player. Left untouched for 25 years, the man has sent three of the copies out for sale and retained two, one of which he is contemplating selling later on as well.

All three copies of 'The Black Album' have already sold, two for $15,000 and the third for $20,000.