Understandably, the 78rpm record found in the pile was of interest to Lance and he came across a record shop in Nashville, Tennessee, that played "all sorts of rare records," including recordings of Nashville artists that he thought might be the earliest known recording of Martin Luther King Jr.

The vinyl found in the record shop was marked "Rare Record Shop Nashville" and was found in a metal storage box in a store in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo: US Government. The New York Times

"I bought it not knowing what I was going to find," Lance said. "I started playing it and found it to be a rare piece of vinyl. It was remarkable that the owner had found it. It was probably worth a million."

Lance, who owns a light plane shop, is a member of a group called Rare Record Store Owners. "It's just rare to find records of any kind, let alone something like this," Lance said. "I've been to the shops that are the most popular and the most expensive in Nashville and Nashville is where I got this record."

After the discovery, Lance took the record to the Nashville Historical Records Library and Museum, where it was verified by the museum's curator.

The record was in a metal storage box in the back of the Record Shop Nashville store.