Posted on www.coventrytelegraph.net, 10th December 2016
High street retailers have now started stocking the old-school disks, as they continue to soar in popularity
The vinyl revival shows no signs of slowing down – with plenty looking to buy turntables and record players this Christmas.
The retro form of listening to music has enjoyed quite the resurgence in recent weeks and months.
High street retailers have now started stocking the old-school disks, as they continue to soar in popularity.
And, to celebrate the renaissance of the vinyl, Mirror Online spoke with LoveAntiques.com to find out which disks could fetch the most money going forward.
“Vinyl is so on trend right now and highly collectible, so it doesn’t surprise me that some command seriously high prices,” said Will Thomas managing director at LoveAntiques.com.
“It’s clear the vinyl records that are worth the most are the ones which have been owned by a celebrity or were made in limited numbers, as with most things, the rarer the item is the more valuable it is.”
So to find out exactly what you should be looking for in charity shops and the loft, LoveAntiques contacted vinyl specialist and record shop owner Phil Barton.
Typically, the records which fetch the most are in mint condition – and even signed.
But that doesn’t mean you aren’t sitting on a goldmine.
These are the 20 most valuable bits of vinyl you can find right now, according to Barton:
- ‘White Album’ by The Beatles originally owned by Ringo Starr – £730,876. Ringo Starr sold his copy of the ‘White Album’, last year at auction for $910,000, which was the first ever to be created – the other Beatles members had the second, third and fourth pressings.
- “That’ll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger” by The Quarrymen – £100,000. The 1958 original is the only known copy of the pre-Beatles disc recorded at a local electrical shop by McCartney, Lennon and Harrison with drummer Colin Hanton and pianist John Duff Lowe.
- “Love Me Do” by The Beatles – £80,500. There is only one known pressing of the one-sided acetate, unedited version with count-in hence the huge price tag.
- “Music For Supermarkets” by Jean Michel Jarre – £10,000 – £30,000. In 1983 Jarre made 1 copy of this album and then destroyed the master tapes, which is why the price is so high for this record.
- “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson – £25,000. Only 2 originals have ever surfaced on the Motown label offshoot Soul.
- “God Save The Queen” by Sex Pistols – £12,000. Before they were kicked off the A&M label about 300 of these were pressed making this record very rare.
- “Would You Believe” by Billy Nicholls – £10,000. Only 100 copies of this 60’s psych/folk/rock album, pressed in its original guise, were manufactured.
- “Please Please Me” by The Beatles – £7,500. It’s important when buying Beatles albums to check the matrix numbers that are cut into the run off groove. These numbers will allow you to work out which pressing you have. As Beatles albums were made by the million it is often these numbers that make the difference between a £10 vinyl and a £1000 treasure
- “Kind Hearted Woman Blues” by Robert Johnson – £7,000. Only two photographs of him exist and his 78’s records are just as rare, especially those released on the Vocalion label.
- “Bohemian Rhapsody/I’m In Love With My Car” by Queen – £5,000. The EMI special edition of the single was also an invite to a company event. For this reason, the 7” record came with matches, a pen, a ticket, a menu, an outer card sleeve, a scarf and an EMI goblet. If you have a complete collection with all of the different items, then this is extremely valuable.
- “Pride” by U2 – £5,000. It was originally pressed in Australia on clear vinyl, coloured vinyl is extremely collectible especially when only 5 copies were made, like with this U2 album.
- “Midsummer Night’s Scene/Sara Crazy Child” by John’s Children – £4,000. The single was pressed on 7” vinyl but for some reason was never released.
- “Latch On/Only A Daydream” by Ron Hargrave – £3,000. There are only six UK copies known to exist hence the high valuation.
- Led Zeppelin’s 1969 first album – £3,000. Led Zeppelin’s first vinyl album is very common, however the initial pressing had turquoise lettering of the band’s name on the front cover. It was swiftly replaced with the now familiar orange lettering.
- “Love Me Do/PS I Love You” by The Beatles – £3,000 250 demo copies of this 1962 7” single contained the misspelling, ‘McArtney’.
- “Space Oddity/Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” by David Bowie – £3,000. Only a couple of copies of the 7” single with an unreleased picture sleeve are known to exist.
- “Tinkerbells Fairydust LP” by Tinkerbells Fairydust – £3,000. A slightly obscure British pop group, Tinkerbells Fairydust recorded this bubblegum psych album for Decca, but it was never released. It had extremely unusual packaging and a laminated front sleeve with a mono stereo ‘peephole’ on the back.
- “Erotica” by Madonna – £2,000. Picture discs are also very collectible and when Madonna released this album in 1992, it was quickly withdrawn from sale because the toe-sucking image on the cover coincided with similar stories involving Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Consequently not many were sold so it’s a rare find.
- “Love is Strange” by Wings – £1,500-£2,000. “Love is Strange” was due to be released as a 7” from the Wildlife album, however Paul McCartney changed his mind at the last minute, however a few copies leaked out onto the market and are now valuable records.
- “Tudor Lodge” by Tudors Lodges – £1200. This is their one and only album and was released on the legendary Vertigo label.
