If you go back through the Popsike archives, WLPs of Zep II have gone for significantly more than $1300 over the years. And it doesn't matter to me how many expensive records I've owned (including a NM Zep II WLP), it makes me a touch nervous to handle them. A little humility is good for me, personally. I've only ever dropped one record out of thousands but that's enough to teach ya that it can happen any time.
I don't know that your average album will continue to rise in value, but I'm fairly confident that a pressing as prized as an RL II in good shape will not cool off. It has one thing that many valuable or rare records do not: stunning sound.
They probably stick it in a 10 dollar Michael’s frame and hang it on the wall, where it becomes warped and unplayable.
I doubt it. That seller has like 1000 LPs up every week. Jazz, rock all kinds of stuff and certain pressings go for big bucks. I saw a Misfits lp go for 936 as well from them yesterday.
Yes I just saw who the seller was, know the store. They even have stores from other countries fly in and make big buys from them.
That was a really nice copy of the RL Ludwig Promo and it would have fetched more if it wasn’t sold in Jan-Feb (traditionally the toughest stretch for sales in every collectible market/hobby). A lot of people seem so shocked about a $1400 sale of a record in this nice of condition. In fine art the equivalent would be in the millions, in comic books, sports cards and even video game collecting, you’d be looking at 50-100k for the equivalent of a RL Zep 2 WLP in this condition. ie not holy grail stuff, but middle tier grail like items. This stuff is still so relatively cheap compared to other hobby’s that the best of the best is going to continue to steadily rise over the coming years. Even kids care about vinyl, and I see more and more in my local record store and at shows.
How much would it of sold for in the 90s though? 100 bucks? I think its the sudden increase in value that is so surprising more than anything.
More or less 10-15 bucks for a really nice copy. The Robert Ludwig cut didn't rise to prominence perhaps until word spread on the 'net, particularly from this site, no?
That's odd. I was buying lots of UK imports in the US at around and after that time, and none of them were sealed.
The RL is the best version of this there is. Closely followed by the 1977 double sided Piros. Which I personally think is a bit better balanced overall and not quite so, well, over the top. The original tapes of LZ II are toast. Iron oxide flakes and slush. The next best - IMO - is the tape copy used for the Classic records reissue. Maybe the 45 rpm version in the flight case is a contender, but given the difficulty of getting one of those.... So.... You're left with whatever is left in reasonable condition of the original, what 100,000, 200,000 RLs pressed. Of the original lot run, I'm guessing over half were played hard and are in less than VG shape. Then people are becoming more aware that those "RL" initials mean - this is as good as this record gets and, given the original tapes are slush, as good as it will ever get. Then some of these people have money to throw at their hobby. Such that a thousand bucks more or less is meaningless to get a shot of teenage mojo. That mojo you get in the back seat with your teenage squeeze playing "Whole Lotta Love" on the car cassette stereo.... I have 13 copies of this record and counting....
Apparently the original master before it basically fell apart. From what I understand, baking and careful transfer got one last transfer from them.....
I was in a shop once and some people were actually saying that pre-Ebay, many rare titles actually went for more than they currently do. It's possible that improved access to geographically dispersed copies sort of makes an item not so rare...for a time of course. But in the case of titles with a lot of emotion surrounding them, bidding is the perfect vehicle for driving up prices. The "it's now or never" feeling instantly kicks in. I watched a rare turntable that was listed in Japan as a "buy it now" for big bucks with all the extras basically sit there for weeks. Then once the seller relisted it for bid, the final selling price buried the buy it now by a substantial amount. Maybe I'll call the Whitney Houston effect.
Didn't the bubble burst on baseball card collecting a while back? I think the card makers were manipulating the market. If someone is buying because they want the best possible sound and / or for sentimental reasons, and they have this kind of disposable income I say more power to them. But people that buy at these prices with the expectation of reselling at a big profit down the road are taking a huge gamble. Prices could easily drop drastically.
