need to price many albums ruined for ins co any ideas

I have many great albums that were ruined from a leak in our storage unit. i have gone through them and have written down all the numbers i can find. What is the best way to get a fair price? I've got a Beatles white album form germany and the 1967/1970, let it be, abbey road etc plus a lot of hendrix albums...need to get the worth of these. Is Ebay the best way to go?
Thanks

 

You can always compare your albums against the ones for sale on Discogs and get a fairly good idea of an average price for each.

 

I had to replace a bunch of LP's ad CD's for water damage, and my insurance company gave me the price that eBay showed.

 

This is my worst fear and specifically why I track my collection on discogs. Love the average price feature and am prepared to go to bat with insurance company if something were to happen. You can even punch in or scan the barcodes using their app to quickly get a total value of the collection.

 

I unfortunately had a similar situation last year where many of my LPs got water damage. The actual records seemed fine although I haven't played any yet but many jackets were warped and wrinkled and I certainly wouldn't be able to sell any. I used discogs for prices to submit to insurance company and my insurance accepted it.

 

Contact Chuck Haddix at Marr Sound Archives, University of Missouri-Kansas City. There is an expert appraiser on his staff.

 

Slightly off topic, but is this damage covered under normal homeowners or does it require some extra rider?

 

As others have said, Discogs.

 

I'm sorry for your loss. And I mean that in no way, shape, or form as sarcasm. I'd be devastated if this happened to me.

Protecting my collection was my the number one reason I abandoned a traditional hot water tank. (finished basement serves as my listening room/music storage). Fortunately, water damage should be easier to recoup than a fire because you can prove what you have. But it is going to take hours and hours to calculate that if you have a large collection.

I personally feel there is still at least a listening value associated with the LPs even without artwork. Though obviously they are worth next to nothing from a purely commercial stand point. Are you allowed to both file a claim and keep the LPs? For some reason, I feel like I remember a loved one having a fire, the insurance company took the items claimed for destruction. Though smoke damage/water damage are different beasts.

 

Thanks. I found the site

 

Thanks

As my albums were in a storage unit I purchased insurance through a insurance company that deals strictly with storage units.

 

I filed a claim, got reimbursed and got to keep my soaked LPs but YMMV.

 

thanks for the reply. Mine are all soaking wet. With black and white mold on the covers, just utterly destroyed, and the vinyl is moldy also.

 

Sorry to hear that, I was relatively lucky that my leak ended up about 4-5 inches high of water and I haven't seen any mold. If they're moldy, you probably should throw them out, mold can be dangerous. Although I'm sure that would be very hard to do, depending on your attachment to them.

 

My collection isn’t huge but some album’s covers are completely destroyed. Beatles white album cut in Germany, Let it be, the Blue album cut in Germany also. I spent hours yesterday covered in mold cataloguing everything. Wow! Those numbers next to the label are tiny lol.
insurance co wants a purchase date. I have no idea. They were my former husband’s not ex. He passed and left his favorites to me. Sad. Anyway I’m going to do my best to get what I can.

 

Just wanted to thank everyone who helped me out.
Still having trouble pricing The Beatles, aka the white Album....prices are all over the place. Oh well, I'll just go with middle of the road and we'll see what the insurance company says.
Again thanks all
Peace

 

This reminds me that I need to put in another Sleeve City order.

 

RE: Flooding
Some insurance policies have a maximum payout that covers
both home repairs and possession replacement, say $10,000.
If you have $12,000 in new carpet and music replacement you'll
eat the other $2K.

 

I have heard it is quite difficult for people to work backward after the damage. Just put a rider on my records for this exact reason

 

It's been a few months, let's hope you reached an agreeable settlement. Please circle back with any info that would prove useful to anyone else finding themselves in a similar situation.

Take care.