Most revelatory record finds, price-wise

I have a few, all bought at used record stores in Montreal:
-Elvis Gold Records Vol. 4 in mono (worth thousands mint), Canadian, not in great shape, $4.
-Original Otis Redding Volt records, between $2 and $7. Nearly had a heart attack! Ironically, the $2 Pain In My Heart album (mono, of course) was in better shape than the $3 Sings Soul Ballads (also mono).
-Carpenters Offering album with original cover (later called Ticket to Ride)-$7.
-My brother bought a 6-CD promo of Warner Music Canada (WEA) material from 1967-92 for $36.
-Sly and the Family Stone Greatest Hits Quad, $4, worth much more.

And a collectible that was not for sale:
Buddy Holly EP That'll Be The Day (1956 sessions). The seller showed it to me with much pride.

 

- Alan Parsons, "Try Anything Once" (Gold SBM Arista release): $7 USD.
- Queen, "News of the World" (Gold MoFi UltraDisc II release): $14.99 USD

Both albums were found at the Sam Goody at the Houston Galleria Mall. I still laugh when I think about the pricing.

- Sting, "Acoustic Live in Newcastle". The whole boxed set for some $35.00 USD, in El Corte Inglés, Spain.
- Huey Lewis and the News, "Sports" (MoFi UltraDisc): $16.99. I didn't buy it. Today, it costs around $150 at amusicdirect.com (if available).

- Elton John's MCA LP collection: perhaps I can get this one for free. I shall know today :tu:

 

In 1976 I bought a perfectly peeled Beatles butcher cover (Yesterday and Today) for $1.00. I have yet to top that.

 

You gotta share more details of that story.

 

Rush 45RPM on full moon records for 10c at a local pawn shop.

 

WOW!!!!!!!!
That is rare!!!!! What song? Finding My Way?

 

%#&@*(&^@%*(&%#()%^)*(@&^)(#%)(%^@)*(^*()#&%

 

Here's another.
Corey (spelled Cory) Hart's 1976 single on United Artists, Oooh Baby, for 25 cents, seven years before he started having hits.

 

1974 yard sale find: Danny and the Juniors "At the Hop," original 45 on Singular Records -- 2 cents. Late 1970s flea market find: Another copy of the same -- 5 cents.

1977 yard sale find: Beatles Yesterday and Today butcher cover, mono, third state (unpeeled) -- 50 cents.

In the 1970s, when Beatles originals were plentiful and cheap, I found lots of what today are considered rarities for pennies: All three commercially released U.S. EPs with their cardboard sleeves; most of the original Capitol LPs; several copies of Sgt. Pepper in mono; picture sleeves for "Why" and "I'll Cry Instead" and others.

2001 thrift shop find: U.S. picture sleeve for "Nightbird" by Stevie Nicks (her rarest sleeve), 50 cents (with record).

2002 used record store find: Introducing the Beatles, mono original with the titles back and "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" (not a counterfeit) -- $8.

2002 used book store find: Introducing the Beatles, TRUE STEREO original (not a counterfeit) with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" -- $40.

 

A friend tells me he got his paste-over Butcher cover for five bux. Apparently the previous owner had no clue about it, and had even stuck one of those old STP stickers to the back.

He's since peeled it, and has it proudly framed and on his wall. It occurs to me that he went to all that trouble to peel the front cover, yet he didn't bother trying to remove the STP sticker from the back!

 

Cory Hart

Oooh Baby is more interesting historically than anything else — he was 13 at the time IIRC.

 

The cheapest valuable (does that makes any sense?) that I've bought was a still-sealed copy of the Ann Margaret The Swinger soundtrack STEREO LP (which I'm leaving sealed). I bought it from someone I dated briefly. She was selling her father's record collection. I picked out about 20 or so LP's and offered her $70 for them, including this one, so that means I got this record for a few dollars and change. Her father used to work for RCA. Not all the records were RCA's though, but that's probably how The Swinger ended up in his collection. A few other decent "finds" that day too, but that was the "pick" of them all.

 

Do trades count? A Sgt. Pepper picture disc (US version) & a UK Elvis Costello--Armed Forces LP for a pasted-over stereo Butcher cover, in 1980!

MANY Japanese Beatle LPs @ EJ Korvettes' all Beatles albums for $2.79 sale in around 1978.

UK Get Back LP box set W/all inserts (including the Apple Records catalog sheet)---$10.00 on 7/6/70

Beatles Rarities---US UNRELEASED green label Capitol SN version (in a white sleeve---no covers were ever made)---FREE as a bonus for buying a Japanese Blue Beatles LP box (they also tossed in a legitimate Girl picture sleeve & labels for the unreleased 45).

 

It was in a brand-new record store with one bin of used records, all $1.00. It's the stereo copy. He knew it was a different cover, but had no idea that a used record could have anything but minimal value, his previous experience having been at the record department of a department store. It was a swift transaction.

 

Mine:

The guy I did this one with has no computer skills so I know he will never see this:
Traded a sealed "Frampton Comes Alive" MFSL Gold disc worth maybe seventy bucks for a mint SPCD-7 just like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=307&item=2545060959
Peace-
Norm

 

Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers - My Bonnie 7" single, Decca pink label promo. VG++ condition. Bought at a mom & pop record store in a small town for $40.00 in 1999. Sold it two years later on eBay for $1900.00. That helped pay for my wife's engagement ring. Whenever she complains that my record collection means more to me than she does, I point to that ring. She knows that record was the crown jewel of my Beatles collection and now it is the crown jewel of her engagement ring!

Another good deal (although not killer) was a stereo Beatles butcher for $100.00. It's an amateur peel job but not too bad. Probably VG+ overall. I'm guessing its worth close to ten times what I paid for it.

 

My most unbelievable find was at a pawn shop in Bullhead City Arizona about 3 years ago. Found Jethro Tull Stand Up MFSL and Harry Nillsson
Nillsson Smillsson MFSL Gold's for 4 bucks apiece. They were both in -M condition with just a few scratches on the Jewel Case but the disks were pristine and looked like they never been played. I also bought several other good finds that day but no MFSL's . The Gentleman at the Pawn shop didn't even have a clue what MFSL CD's were . Now every time my wife and I take a trip over to Laughlin, NV I make a point to hit all the pawn shops accross the river in Bullhead City and find good used CD's sometimes but haver never had another find like that again.

 

Snagged the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" box set promo sampler -- the one that included the Pet Sounds stereo mix -- for only $7.99. "No big deal", you say. Well, this was years ago when the promo was going for beaucoup de bucks. At the time, I hung onto it rather than cashed out because of the possibility that the box set (w/ the stereo Pet Sounds) might not see the light of day.

 

Re: Mine:

Nice deal, Norm!
Gotta love that SPCD-7.
You know, there are a bunch out there, somewhere!

 

I got a nice copy of Harpo Marx's Mercury LP Harpo At Work (mono version) at a church book sale for a quarter. I've seen them going for much more since, but I've hung on to mine.

And I don't know if it's worth any more than I paid for it (never really been into putting value on my collection), but I got a near mint copy of The Monkees' debut album with the "Papa Jean's Blues" mis-spelling on the cover for five bux.

 

Re: Re: Mine:

Well, I have one, you have one and Joachim has one cause I traded it to him and there's one on eBay so that makes four!
Soon I may have two again

Best-
Norm

 

It seems that some things are not as rare in some parts of the country. The Beatles "Butcher Cover" for one is easier to find here than any other part of the country. Another one that is not rare here is Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors cover with the band on fire. Also, for some odd reason, Tom Lehrer's original 10-inch lp "Songs By Tom Lehrer" can be found almost any weekend at a garage sale in Portland, yet I can find no link between the good professor and Portland.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Lord. I'll just go to some garage sales this weekend and pick up my "Butcher Cover"

Your moniker suggests the area of town in which I'll find it -- heh heh.