Vinyl thieves have pilfered hundreds of records belonging to the partner of Roland S. Howard, the former Birthday Party and Bad Seeds guitarist who died in 2009.

Howard’s long-term partner Genevieve McGuckin says lodgers staying in her Melbourne home gradually stole around 200 records, worth thousands of dollars, and replaced them with cheap Motörhead and Elvis albums in an attempt to mask the robbery.

Among the missing possessions are first edition records from The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and rarities from These Immortal Souls, the band founded by McGuckin and also featuring Howard. The thieves also took test pressings from Howard’s solo projects and various records from McGuckin and Howard’s joint collection. Some of the records are said to be worth up to $1500 each.

In an emotional statement on Facebook, McGuckin described the records as the “bones” of her life, collected throughout her decades-long relationship with Howard, and asked fans to be on the lookout for the stolen vinyl on Gumtree, eBay and Discogs. [via The Vinyl Factory]