You are pretty much correct - it shows the highest to lowest prices particular items have sold for, but it’s totally skewed as there is no method for accounting for the condition of a particular sold item. Also, there are many rare & expensive pieces there that don’t even have a value shown because they’ve never actually been sold on Discogs.
Most of my "valuable" records are probably in the $100 category. I don't think any record is worth more than say $200. Got some UK first pressings of Radiohead and Oasis albums. Most of my Beatles LPs are valuable, though none are first pressings.
But it's certainly more rare, isn't it, and that's one of the primary questions in this thread. Whereas mispresses in general weren't especially rare back then, you just try to find yourself a copy of that album with a Cheap Trick label on one side. Go!
Once we start getting into acetates, then we're talking rare. Of course, rare and valuable are two different things. I have a US Capital 10" metal acetate for Bill Cosby's 1976 7" single "Merry Christmas Mama". It cost me $10 several years ago, and now you couldn't get most anyone to pay you a dollar for it. But I crapped a brick when I found it on Ebay, because it is quite simply my favorite Christmas song ever. How many of those can possibly exist? Two? Three? As my for most valuable record, I wish I knew. I have an original Cinevox Cherry Five LP that reportedly has sold between $2000 and $10,000 in recent years. The problem is, in the year 2000, not long after I paid $300 for it and before there was evidence that it could be worth that much, I had Claudio Simonetti personally autograph it with my name in black magic marker. Clearly that lowers the value massively, but just how low it is I don't know. I just know that if I could have gotten nearly $10,000 for this thing, I would have sold it in a heartbeat. But I doubt whatever I could get for it now would be enough for me to part with it. For years, I thought my rarest record by far was a UK test pressing of the Suspiria soundtrack.... until a fellow Goblin collector found 3 or 4 more of them in his searches.
Rarest would be a top condition Robert Johnson Milk cow’s calf blues 78 on Vocalion 03665 , also got archive condition Beatles Please please me mono and stereo black/gold same condition Elvis rock and roll no1 and 2 hmv ( just like shop new ) lots more _ you can see what I spend my money on !!
Nothing super-rare, but I have numerous items that are genuinely scarce, like the Australian Children of the Sun, its only release on CD of the original mix and track listing. Or The Cure's Happily Ever After and Pornography on A&M CDs. I have Nico's Behind the Iron Curtain on CD, you don't see many if those in the wild. Let's see, and Pylon's Gyrate and Real Life's Heartland on CD. Stuff like that.
Nirvana "Sliver" CD Japan issue catalog no. UICZ-1190. Came with a poster unique to this release (same catalog number on poster). I have the poster as well as the hype sticker from the cellophane. The one copy on discogs is unclear what theirs includes: Nirvana - Sliver: The Best Of The Box Curious what complete copy is worth at this point. Maybe I'll take a photo of the poster and put it up at discogs. -s1m0n-
Outside of box sets, my most valuable is a 10-inch Elvis Costello single (done under the name “The Imposter”), “Bright Blue Times,” that I bought off his merch table the last time I saw him. Apparently there were only 500 pressed. After that: Vatican Commandos: Hit Squad for God EP (mostly unknown punk band from CT; this is only valuable because the guitar player was some kid that later called himself Moby) Pantera: Power Metal (their fourth self-released album, first with Phil Anselmo on vocals; back when they were a glam rock band) Public Image, Ltd.: Metal Box The Mothers of Invention: Absolutely Free yellow label promo (mono) Grateful Dead: Europe ‘72 Vol. 2 (RSD release) The Stooges (original red label press) The copy of R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People that my wife and I are listening to right now (total coincidence) Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique Pink Floyd: The Division Bell (blue vinyl original press; bought this at cost when I was working in a CD store—I ordered both this and The Clash’s Super Black Market Clash on vinyl for myself the weeks they came out) Most of these I bought new (including that Vatican Commandos EP). The only one I paid collector’s price for was the PiL record (and the Dead, because it was an expensive Record Store Day release in the first place). Rarest record would be some punk 7-inch. No idea which one, though the VC is probably in the running. No idea how many of those were pressed.
Forgot to mention a UK Mono 67' Decca Export of The Stones Flowers. Less valuable but even rarer is a UK 7" EMI Metal Acetate of Jeff Beck"s second single Tallyman!
Extremely rare....but undervalued in terms of a 'rarity'. I personally think it is one of the rarest records.....period. Very lucky to own a copy.
Another one of the rarer LPs in my collection. Not sure which is rarer...the Monkees MONO Birds Bees LP posted or the MONO Ram. My guess is the Ram MONO is more coveted, but I really don't know.
PAUL McCARTNEY ~ ''Ram'' LP U.S. Sound Recorders Studio .. Stereo, 12'' two sided acetate LP. c., 1971.
Paul McCartney & Wings ~ "Red Rose Speedway" LP U.S. Sterling Sound Inc .. Stereo, 12'' two sided acetate album with custom cover. c., 1973.
I collect Beatles LPs, and my specific obsession is Latin America. Here are five that have sleeves unknown in the US or the UK, are quite rare, and command high prices if you can find them. Musart 3-LP set, repackages the first three Musart Lps for Christmas 1964 (Musart was the original Mexican licensee before Capitol Mexico began operations in mid-1965). Super rare in this condition because the gatefold sleeve wasn't really built to handle three discs. Stereo copy of Beatles 65 from Brazil. Mono copies are plentiful, but not this one. Bolivian copy of Rubber Soul with silkscreened sleeve (no color offset print shops in Bolivia until around 1968). Circa 1966 reissue of Beatles 2 from Bolivia. Only known copy. Para Jovenes Vol. 2, 1963 Argentina VA compilation with the Beatles billed as "Los Grillos" (literally The Crickets).
A friend gave me a box of her old singles a few years ago that had the rare Aussie pressing of this. Figuring it had some value I was surprised to see that it was THAT valuable so I gave them back to her and advised her what it was worth. Don't think she has sold it - yet! She also had a copy of the rare Australian Bowie Jean Genie single with the picture sleeve (worth far more than the value shown on the Discogs entry - those valuations are for the non-picture sleeve version). Kept that for a little while but gave that one back as well. She bought them both upon release so they're her "valuables". It was nice to see them though. My rarest item is this one: Vinyl collectors! Show us your prized possessions! (part2) . As my comment said in that post, pity it had to be for one of their worst albums. Have never played it since I bought it back in the late 80's.
12-track Runt by Todd Rundgren. I use to have a sealed mono US copy of The Who Sell Out, but I had to sell it because I needed the money.
The Who live in Toronto 2002, from TheMusic.com. The way Townshend's guitar is recorded is incredible.
The withdrawn 7" has sold for £550 according to Discogs; the 12" is a little less rare selling for £110 - a great TT record to have in your collection!
I collected all the original UK Beatles records. They were expensive to collect, but they ain't that rare. Pepper & the White album were the most expensive.....
I just sold it actually - Still Crazy After All These Years full album metal acetate + Promo + Sealed commercial copy
