Best Vinyl Finds

I had an experience this weekend that makes me want to ask

What's your best vinyl find?!


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Here's mine......

I've been buying vinyl my whole life and have made some impressive purchases.

This weekend something strange happened. I didn't really want to post this story because I don't want to possibly embarrass the seller..and it will read that I'm looking for attention. So I'm leaving out details. But I decided that it's just too damn good not to share with people who don't know me.

I'm going to say this twice. This is a true story.

I went to a local vinyl fair recently. I was on the hunt for a solid copy of "Led Zepplin II". I wasn't going to pony up huge cash, but I'd figure I'd drop $70 on a mint copy if I could find one. I don't know much about collecting Zep vinyl..close to nothing actually. Just heard the Bob Ludwig story/legend.

Walking through the stalls I saw a ratty open display case with two still sealed Zep albums (II and III). I just figured that they were the new remasters so I grabbed them both (much to the annoyance to the guy right next to me who said "S%^T, you beat me to them!").

I did notice that the "II" sealed version looked pretty damn "old"? But it was out amongst old debris..And I know that sellers at these fairs always know what stuff is worth. So I didn't get too worked up.

I asked the older rather shell shocked gent at the booth how much he wanted.

He said "$10 each".

"Wait..how much?"

"Ten each?"

I handed over the $20. Pretty satisfied that I just made a killer deal. No matter what..sealed Zep, right?

This whole transaction took under 1 min.

I noticed that "III" had an original hype sticker on it. I was starting to get a weird feeling.

I rushed over to a quiet corner like Gollum. Pulled out my phone and hit Discogs.

"III" was a 1978 sealed copy ( don't have code now..it's at home). Gulp.

"II" had "Atlantic ‎– SD 8236" above the Atlantic logo on the front.

No. I'm not making this up. This is a true story

I went back to the dude and asked him where he got these albums. His 45 year old son had passed some months ago. After he passed a "family friend" priced his sons' treasured collection for him, and here it was. The family needed the cash and he felt that the record store would rip him off. He looked really sad and really tired.

I gave him "II" back. And told/begged him to shut down the booth entirely and take everything home.

He looked at me like I was f%&king nuts until I showed him what this album was going for on Discogs.

Yeah. I kept "III". He wouldn't take it back...

Truth be told.. I'm sick about this...I gave him my number and told him to call me if he couldn't find someone to help him price the stuff.

Again I just figured that the story is too classic not to share. I'm not sharing this with people that know me and (trust me) I've run every scenario in my head (fake albums..but then why wasn't he asking for more? I made a mistake reading the codes..but I looked three times... Maybe there are sealed variants of SD 8236 that are worth nothing..I couldn't find one? Maybe the Discog price was just inflated Discog nonsense? I don't know..)

Maybe one of you will tell me that this version really wasn't worth all that much??

My wife kept asking me what was wrong this weekend. I said I got a bug and I just wanna watch football.

 

You did a good thing, Zep albums are plentiful anyway.

 

What’s going on here? Was LZ2 a RL ss or am I missing something?

Why’d you give it back????

 

Most people, even me maybe, would have kept them and gone back for more. Apparently, that guy got lucky. Good for him, good for you.

 

This thread is off to a great start... I like the original post.

Although these types of threads are fun to read, sometimes impressive, occasionally envy-worthy, once-in-a-lifetime finds, a lot of WOW! Score, rarely “ehh”, no big deal...

This post seemed genuinely free of the occasional “gloat” aspect... which is refreshing.

YMMV

 

As far as I could tell, yes, it was the BL version. Discogs has one exactly like it for 6G. I'm not sure if that's a real market price or not. My guess is it's not. But still..it was worth more than $10.

Don't rub it in.

 

Was walking through the park one day and I seen what looked like a small pomeraian walking on two legs so I followed it and it led me to a tiny ornate wooden door onside of a tree. I opened it and to my suprise was a small old elf with a 1st pressing 6eye stereo of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue in his tiny hands, but this was no ordinary 1st issue, the photo on the cover had Miles eyes open and staring right at you and all the text was written in rune. He offered it to me as if I should own it, I bowed and thanked him but as soon as he heard me speak english, his eyes widened and he vanished. When I looked down at the LP in hand it morphed into a beat up copy of Now Thats What I Call Music 2. Never again

 

You can't go wrong doing the right thing...…… pretty cool you took the time to talk with him, and learn his story. I can't say I would have been as sensitive as you were that day, but your experience has caused me to think.

 

2nd state Butcher cover in VG condition for $15.................................from Ebay

 

Maybe you could have offered him a flat price for the entire lot he was selling. Probably some other gems in there, and he'd be have been happy not to have to sell one at a time.

 

Lol. I knew this was coming.

 

It was sealed, how could you possibly know if it had Robert Ludwig’s initials in the dead wax?

 

A sealed "Time Fades Away" for $14. - Never heard the album, but I knew it was a deal.

 

If it was an original 1969 Broadway pressing, that might be a good bet...

 

You're an incredibly decent human being. I wish I could tell you there was such a thing as karma, but there isn't. However, you do have my respect. That's not a thing that most people are fussed about having though.

 

I don't.

But from the research I've done, it "most likely" did? Again, I'm no expert on Zep collecting and I'm happy to lessen the blow and say it "didn't".

 

I broke down and told the story to a few vinyl collector friends of mine. They have been calling me different names than "decent".

But thanks for the sentiment.

 

Best in terms of value? Probably a true 1st UK press Zeppelin I for $10. VG- condition I flipped it for $600. Best for me? Probably this;



Although this rare pink vinyl Ltd. to 100 #'d copies boot may soon get bumped to second place as I may be getting one of the 5 black vinyl test pressings for this.

 

Honestly can't say I would have done the same. Because I wouldn't have had the seller's back story until I went back to the booth (as you eventually did). Likely I would have just left without even knowing.

But at its core this isn't really about record collecting, it's about doing the right thing for another human being who sounds like they are dealing with both grief and money issues. And you did the right thing.

 

Being that I have an eBay store, I think of my best finds in terms of the dollar return on my investment. I recently found the self-titled 1957 album by Hank Mobley, first-issue release on Blue Note at a garage sale. I bought it for $1.....sold it for $1,000. I'd have to say that was my best find!

 

I had a couple of good deals in 2019 I will share...

Was on the fence about purchasing the limited "New Dawn" blue vinyl edition of Jefferson Airplane's Woodstock Sunday August 17, 1969. It was $69.99 on Amazon...but they offered me a $70.00 credit if I opened up a Prime Card account, so I ended up getting the 3LP set for $6.62 once sales tax was accounted for.

But the best was my purchase of the 15 LP Rolling Stones Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016 box set. A seller was blowing their remaining stock of these out for an incredible price, so I ended up buying two - one to keep and one to sell. I listed one on eBay and sold it for my asking price. When all was said and done (final value fees, PayPal fees, etc.) I ended up acquiring the copy I kept for $9.31...or $.62/album. Pretty good considering this box typically sells for around $400.

 

I went to an Estate Sale about a year ago and found the first Hunger album (mint) stashed along side a row of classical LP's. In a similar vein- About 10 years ago a fellow record collector in my city called me to let me know about a collection of classical records that he had turned down . Apparently he had turned these down sight unseen because among those classical records was the entire run of Rolling Stones Mono LP'S up to Satanic. All mint!

 

I got a 2nd state butcher at the Salvation Army for .99 cents a few years back

 

I found a beautiful first UK pressing of Cocteau Twins' "Head Over Heels" in a bin at Princeton Record Exchange for $14.99

 

I had a VG+ Magic Bus LP but it was missing the cover. When digging through the bargain bins, I came across a copy of Magic Bus that had a beat up, but fine for what I needed cover. I didn't even check the LP inside because I figured either way all I needed was the cover, maybe I'd get lucky and get an even better record inside than I had. Got it home, was cleaning the other records I had just bought and then took Magic Bus out to put the LP I had in it, and it was a mono WLP! VG condition, but for $1.99 not at all a bad "score".