Pawnbroker Buys Signed CD—Then Message From a Stranger Changes Everything

A man who won a signed Nirvana CD more than 30 years ago was blown away to find that very album on Reddit, after it was pawned by the friend he had given it to, leading to a viral story of kindness.

Mark Kensey, who works as a pawnbroker, took to Reddit’s r/Autographs on June 15 via his account u/2fly2hide, after a woman pawned a signed Nirvana CD in his shop.

Along with a photo of the In Utero record with three signatures, he shared what appeared to be a receipt of authenticity from a radio station, thanking the original owner for their auction bid, which won them the signed record.

In the post, which racked up more than 5,000 upvotes, Kensey asked Reddit if they believed the signatures could be legitimate—but got one response he had never expected.

“This is real. This was mine. I gave it to a dear friend…. I’m saddened she parted with it.”

Kensey explained to Newsweek that the woman told him “a friend had given it to her years ago and it was just sitting in a drawer for so long, she was ready to move on,” and as she wasn’t asking for much money, he took the risk and bought it before trying to verify it on Reddit.

“For the first few hours, the responses were normal. Some people thought it was real, some people thought it not, and a few offered to buy it. Exactly what I would have expected.

“Soon though, by some freak coincidence, the guy who had originally purchased the CD from the radio station replied.”

Kensey said it was obvious the original owner, Tyler, just wanted to confirm its authenticity, and knew the name and address on the envelope, along with the name of the woman who had sold it to him, “things that he couldn’t have known unless it was true.”

He learned the CD had been a “prized possession” of Tyler’s, and he had hoped his friend “would keep it forever”—”so then I just did what anyone would do. I got his current address and mailed it back to him.”

“He offered to pay me for it several times over,” Kensey said. “He offered to trade. But I refused. A few random Redditors also offered to pay for it to have it sent back to him. It was very nice of them all to offer, but I refused them as well. I just bought it from the shop myself.”

Kensey said it was an easy decision to make, as “it felt good to get someone’s prized possession back to them,” and the story “seems to have touched a lot of people.

“I would easily spend many times that if I thought it would inspire anyone else to do something similar.”

“When a freak occurrence like that happens, it’s really easy to do the right thing,” he added. “It’s been a special thing for me to be a part of. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Tyler, from San Diego in California, is now 52 years old, and won the CD the week of his 21st birthday, when he was in college and happened to be up with friends at 4am when the bidding was taking place, and won it for $65.

“Seeing the post and responding to it immediately took me back to the night I won the item,” he told Newsweek.

“The coincidence of seeing my item on a random Reddit thread was mind-blowing and felt surreal at first. After chatting with [Kensey] and letting him know everything I knew about it, I was also thrilled that it was with a fellow music lover.”

Hoping to get his item back, but never expecting Kensey to gift it to him, Tyler, who only gave his first name, asked “for first consideration” when he sold it on—”and that’s when I began to realize his intent to return it to me, 32 years after I’d won it, after 20+ years of treasuring it and a decade after gifting it to a dear friend.

“When Mark refused payment of any kind, not even for postage to mail it to me, or his original cost, which I never inquired about, I was absolutely blown away.”

Revealing he’s now making plans to visit the pawnbrokers’ shop in Oklahoma City in person, Tyler praised Kensey as being “nothing but professional and kind to me, and I look forward to thanking him at his shop in person later this year.

“I received the package today and can confirm receipt of the original item with a very sweet note,” he said, adding that Kensey “is an incredible human being and a man of his word.”

Tyler went on to share an update to r/Autographs via his own account, u/FutureNoise, writing that he had been “reunited with a piece of my heart,” where it won more than 2,400 upvotes.

Redditors loved it, one commenter declaring it was an “awesome story and awesome OP [original poster.]”

“Collector here and I remember the original post and I’m here now so that’s gotta be it haha, also huge music fan and this is an amazing item! Happy it’s so loved,” another said, as another noted “life works in mysterious ways.

“I love how something trivial such as an object, piece of music or smell can carry so much weight and instantly take us back to certain points in our life and feel those emotions all over again.”

Tyler originally won the CD in 1993, with a signature from all three members: Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic; frontman Cobain would die less than a year later in 1994.

More than 30 years on from the band’s end, they remain incredibly popular: on Spotify alone, Nirvana has more than 33.9 million monthly listeners.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some extra details, and they could appear on our website.