Anyone use Goldmine Record Pricing Guides?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Erik Tracy, Jun 22, 2017.

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  1. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    I've been wanting to do my own appraisal of my LP collection and the Goldmine Record Pricing Guide popped into Google.

    I like the idea of a print version.

    Any thoughts on this?
     
  2. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    For grading standards, not for pricing
     
  3. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Use eBay and Discogs for pricing!

    Printed price guides are obsolete in the 21st century.
     
    HILO and Aftermath like this.
  4. Ski Bum

    Ski Bum Happy Audiophile

    Location:
    Vail, CO
    The Goldmine Guides pricing is quite stale, but I find the guide useful for determining the label design used on original pressings. Unless you have an amazing memory, you might not remember which Columbia label was used on the original pressings for a Santana album, whether the two-tone ATCO label was used on the original pressing of a Cream album, what was the album number for an original pressing of Neil Young album, etc. The Goldmine Guide generally is a reliable source for this kind of information.
     
    Aftermath likes this.
  5. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Great in the 20th Century.
     
  6. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    Ok, so, I signed up for Discogs...getting used to the user interface.

    Trying to find what my copy of Aerosmith "Rocks" would be as I can't find a match to the Matrix Runout for side A.

    LP
    Columbia PC 34165
    Side A Matrix Runout: AL 34165-1F (Stamped with "Sterling") then an ever faint H9 next to Sterling
    Side B Matrix Runout: BL 34165-1F (Stamped with "Sterling") then a faint B 3 below and to the right of Sterling

    TIA

    And yes - I confirmed both A & B sides are "-1F"
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2017
  7. Leggs91203

    Leggs91203 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    When some people grade their LPs, I often wonder how much wishful thinking goes into grading it. I bet a lot of people think their LPs are in better shape than what they really are. Plus, a seller might think, "Oh those scuffs and the jacket ring aren't THAT bad" yet I can promise whoever buys it will have a different opinion.

    Besides, just look at the "good" standard -

    Good (G), Good Plus (G+)
    Generally worth 10-15 percent of the Near Mint value. Good does not mean Bad! A record in Good or Good Plus condition can be put onto a turntable and will play through without skipping. But it will have significant surface noise and scratches and visible groove wear (on a styrene record, the groove will be starting to turn white).
    A cover or sleeve will have seam splits, especially at the bottom or on the spine. Tape, writing, ring wear or other defects will start to overwhelm the object.

    Holy crap, that reminds me of some of the car ads on craigslist that say, "Everything works and looks great, the only problem is that the engine is locked up".

    Almost all the grades, save for "poor", imply that the LP/jacket are really nice. Take the "very good" grade, it says it may have a lot of surface noise. That doesn't seem "very good". I guess whoever invented that grade system also knew that most people are not going to bother doing research and just take "very good" or even "good" at face value.

    I think a more honest system would say -
    Mint, near mint, good, fair, acceptable and poor.
     
    dbsea likes this.
  8. dbsea

    dbsea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    :laugh: Reminds me of many of my eBay buying experiences.
     
  9. gudnoyez

    gudnoyez Forum Resident

    Location:
    Iowa
    I got a near mint Rocks LP bought it the day it was released and have played it a few times looks brand new. Is there a sought after one? Never got into checking LP pressings sounds like a lot of work to me. What's discogs all about?
     
  10. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The price guides in general are not useful for determining mastering houses or engineers, or pressing plate numbers, etc. Your H9 or 1F means nothing to record price guides.
     
  11. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    But, apparently, different matrix/runout codes do.

    I looked up my copy of Led Zeppelin I. Different matrix codes have different low/median/high prices.
     
  12. sublemon

    sublemon Forum Resident


    nonsense, nothing between "near mint" and "good"? What we need is a well defined, granular point system like used for other collectibles such as cards and comics.

    the goldmine scale is imprecise, vague garbage. Here is an 8-point scale I came up with before:


    8: M (mint) - perfect in every way - basically unobtainable

    7: NM (near mint) - only allowed defects would be the slightest corner bump on a sleeve, a very light naturally occurring paper scuff from the original inner sleeve, non-audible. "Nearly mint"

    6: VF (very fine): Again, no audible defects on the vinyl. Maybe a little more scuffing or a couple hairlines. A slight crease on the jacket or a little worse corner bump.

    5: FN (fine): Some audible defects allowed here. Occasional pops/clicks, but no constant surface noise. Very Minor warp or off-centered that doesn't affect sound. On the jacket, a hint of wear/ringwear. An unobtrusive price sticker maybe. No writing or tape. Maybe a promo stamp depending on your preference.

    4: VG (very good): Still a desirable record. Could have a bit more audible noise, but still not constant groove damage, and not generally noticeable. Jackets with wear but no missing pieces or totally defaced with writing, etc. A playable record that will satisfy most listeners, if not serious collectors.

    3: GD (good): A playable copy, might have noticeable noise in places, but no skips

    2: FR (fair): Might be interesting if a very rare item. Could have skips, groove wear, warping, but still basically playable. writing on jacket and tears, but mostly intact. Heavy ringwear, etc.

    1: PR (poor): for the landfill unless extremely rare
     
    Rob9874 likes this.
  13. I didnt realise there is a Goldmine Pricing scale. To me Value/Worth is a seperate system which we can identify our records, and the Goldmine Standard, being how we judge condition of the records.

    here's an interesting article to put it in perspective:

    https://www.wired.com/2015/03/hot-stampers/
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2017
  14. Rob9874

    Rob9874 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    You just gave me a business idea: graded encapsulated records. Just like CGC for comics. I know what you're thinking, you can't play them. But like comics, when you invest in a NM copy of Detective 27, you want to preserve its value and not read it. Wonder if there would be a market for it. If anything, for a 3rd party grading system for purchasing. Maybe vinyl isn't expensive enough to warrant it. Wonder what a 9.8 original UK copy of DSOTM would fetch. :) I do agree with you though, the record grading scale is flawed. I know comics, and there is a huge swing from a 10.0 Mint to a 4.0 VG. But in records, it goes NM to VG (with + and -). I think a few more grades in there are needed.
     
  15. sublemon

    sublemon Forum Resident

    lol, but detective 27 can be worth in the $ millions. Hardly an any LP even approaches 10% of that , out of the 34 *million* items currently for sale on discogs, only a handful are over $10K, and I think most of them are mistakes. So, i'm not sure we need an CGC type thing yet. but a better grading scale would be nice. probably worth a separate thread.
     
  16. Leggs91203

    Leggs91203 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    One speculative grading system that works for me when I buy -
    The less popular a band or particular LP is nowadays, the better shape it is likely to be in.

    For example, suppose it were pink floyd, led zepplin, or something coveted like that. Chances are - it likely saw a lot of use by some stoner who may not have been the best at taking care of things. I would be apprehensive about buying it used on the web.

    On the other hand - I recently bought 3 Quarterflash LP's used on ebay. The LPs and jackets are all three in NM condition. Same with a couple others like Olivia Newton John greatest hits vol 2 that I found at thrift. I do own a Kenny Loggins LP, "High adventure", that was mint still sealed when i found it at goodwill a few weeks ago. 100% perfect.
    What do these LPs have in common? All of them were probably "filler" when someone ran out of ideas for what albums to buy during the "12 LPs for a penny" phase of their record club membership, or people forgot to send back the "album of the month" card so the albums probably got played once or twice then sat on the shelf until 2017.

    "But if bands like quarterflash were popular back then, wouldn't the LP get a lot of use?"
    No, because once someone played the album and learned that there was one good song and the rest sucked, onto the shelf it went until doomsday.

    So - albums from the 70's and 80's -

    Top 40 probably got played little and is probably NM or VG+
    Classic rock albums, well, hope for the best. Better to buy these in person.

    I would dare say that often times, you can assume, sight unseen, that the Lp condition is inversely proportional to how enjoyable the music is to most people.
    My taste in music kind of sucks, admittedly, so when i found Kim Carnes "Romance dance" in NM shape for ONE dollar, awesome.

    I have no explanation as to why so many of the pure crap thrift store LPs like Andy Williams or The First Family are often in tatters.
     
  17. Rob9874

    Rob9874 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    Well, I wasn't entirely serious. However, Detective 27 was a poor choice. It doesn't require a million dollar comic to be encapsulated. Most are usually $100 or more. The price difference in any hobby between something sold "raw" and one that has been professionally graded and then encapsulated to preserve that grade is significant. I wonder if there will be a market for this soon, and what kinds of prices graded records would fetch. Not serious, but fun to speculate about.
     
    sublemon likes this.
  18. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Yeah they can make a difference to prices if the different matrix codes denote a first or subsequent pressing. With respect to Led Zeppelin I there are a lot of variations, in the UK versions at least, with both the labels and matrix details which can affect price greatly.

    But the same might not apply to all releases.

    I'm not familiar with Aerosmith "Rocks" matrix details but your -1F/-1F copy might just be a typical first pressing just with a matrix variation. On Discogs you won't always find your copy but the great thing about it is, that you can submit your copy or your details for inclusion.
     
  19. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
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