What was the most valuable record you ever found at the thrift/yard sale/dollar bin?

Well didn't pick up any music today at the used book store
but I did snag a copy of Terry Hounsome's Rock Record(3rd edition-1987)
What the heck it was a buck fiddy

figured it would provide hours of trivia fodder
Did you know Cling Eastwood had 9 albums?
now you do
 
It is very odd that I find something both rare and in collectible shape at a thrift. It has happened, as a few years back I picked up a Can't Buy Me Love pic sleeve with a VG+ disc for $2. They charged extra because it was a Beatles disc. I sold it a couple of weeks later for almost $500. I have found lots of things at yard sales, and even in antique shops, that give you the tingle. I have turned up Charlie Parker Dial 10" lps, promo unplayed Blue Note and Prestige lps, Elvis 78s, lots of fun things. After a while of you tune into what just might be valuable by the look of the 45 label. You can just guess, and for ten cents to a buck or two, it is worth the gamble.
 
arrow 68 said:
Normals, E 31st ST.? I sell them lots of stuff that would not be worth my effort to Ebay. They help pay for the stuff I do find for a buck that I keep. They pay $3 on average. I will be visiting them this week. Found a couple today. They will buy one of them, and that will pay for the other two. :D
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Why yes it was Normals. I go in about every month to clean them out. They are usually fairly priced and the listening station is worth it's weight in gold...not just to listen, but to spin the record to look for warp (I only buy mint records now unless it's something I can't live without). That trip, I cleaned out those Beatles records, and took the rest of their Blue Note stuff that I found interesting. They haven't kept up their classical section (I guess they're not buying classical collections lately) which is very dissapointing. Normals is where I go when I gotta hear it, and I don't want to wait to find the damn album at Goodwill.

Perhaps next time you feel like purging your collection, you may keep me in mind :thmbsp:

James R.

And to answer the other post that mentioned good LP shopping in the DC Balt area....DC is no more. Orpheus, which was the only one worth anything that I knew of, closed it's doors in May :no: Baltimore still has Normals, True Vine, and Il Supremo....and Soundgarden if you want to buy only new vinyl...which is very cool to get a new release on vinyl, but that's another thread entirely.

James R.

James R.
 
jwrosenthal said:
Why yes it was Normals. I go in about every month to clean them out. They are usually fairly priced and the listening station is worth it's weight in gold...not just to listen, but to spin the record to look for warp (I only buy mint records now unless it's something I can't live without). That trip, I cleaned out those Beatles records, and took the rest of their Blue Note stuff that I found interesting. They haven't kept up their classical section (I guess they're not buying classical collections lately) which is very dissapointing. Normals is where I go when I gotta hear it, and I don't want to wait to find the damn album at Goodwill.

Perhaps next time you feel like purging your collection, you may keep me in mind :thmbsp:

James R.

And to answer the other post that mentioned good LP shopping in the DC Balt area....DC is no more. Orpheus, which was the only one worth anything that I knew of, closed it's doors in May :no: Baltimore still has Normals, True Vine, and Il Supremo....and Soundgarden if you want to buy only new vinyl...which is very cool to get a new release on vinyl, but that's another thread entirely.
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James R.

James R.
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There are still good haunts. You just have to know where to look. I sold some stuff to Normals yesterday, and they passed on somethings that surprised me. I did have stuff in the stack I thought they wouldn't buy. As far as buying from them I have seen nothing at least for the price I want. I will agree that the record shops, and shows in Baltimore suck. They need a big show at the Convention Center, or the State Fairgrounds, (I can walk to it) but the powers that be always puss out on it. I think the cost to rent out the space is BS, and that is the problem.
 
eb2jim said:
It is very odd that I find something both rare and in collectible shape at a thrift. It has happened, as a few years back I picked up a Can't Buy Me Love pic sleeve with a VG+ disc for $2. They charged extra because it was a Beatles disc. I sold it a couple of weeks later for almost $500. I have found lots of things at yard sales, and even in antique shops, that give you the tingle. I have turned up Charlie Parker Dial 10" lps, promo unplayed Blue Note and Prestige lps, Elvis 78s, lots of fun things. After a while of you tune into what just might be valuable by the look of the 45 label. You can just guess, and for ten cents to a buck or two, it is worth the gamble.
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The interesting thing about singles is how surprisingly informative they can be about an artist's early career. I picked up a Jimmy Norman single on Ray Star a couple of weeks ago. I'll Never Be Free/Love Sick Feeling. VG shape, plays well, and it's a promo. I bought it because I noticed it was produced by Dave Axelrod. I looked it up in Goldmine, and noticed that a young Jimmy Hendrix played on one of Jimmie Norman's single releases. I did not know that.
 
Last summer, a buddy saved a couple of hundred records from being throwed at the recycling center.
When he was sorting through them, around $800 fell out of one the covers. Lucky b*****d!
 
Beatles "Hard Day's Night" - unopened for $1.99. This copy has the track misprint I Cry Instead Rather than I'll Cry Instead. From what I read that is supposed to mean something. Go figure.

AF
 
Rubber Soul and Revolver in mono, original Capitol release, records in very good shape (not great).

After cleaning the records, they sound very good and I listen to them fairly often.

Paid 25 cents each last Summer at a garage sale.

Cheers, Snade
 
Kind of a long story...

When I was a teen back in the early '70's, I had a version of Tommy on cassette featuring The London Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Choir. It had the usual members from the Who but also some great guest soloists like Richie Havens, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr and Maggie Bell. Over the years, my early cassette collection and I were separated. Most of what I liked was eventually replaced by LP or CD but not this one.

For some reason, about 6 or 7 years ago, I really started thinking about and missing this album. I researched it on the internet and to my dismay found it was virtually impossible to find. No one had it for sale. I found that Rhino Records had re-released it on CD in the early '90's but when I contacted them, I was told it had been out of print for years and they didn't have any copies left. I became obsessed. I kept looking and looking and finally found someone with a used copy of the CD set selling in excess of $100. I bought it but during my search had found that the original vinyl box set with booklet was even more rare and expensive.

Fast forward to May of this year. I was attending a local record show. You know the scene, aisle after aisle of long tables where vendors show their wares mostly out of cardboard boxes. I had been around the room a couple of times when I stopped at a table where this vendor only had a couple of boxes and really didn't have anything that caught my immediate attention. I don't know why but I decided to go through his stuff and about half way through the first box - you guessed it - the LP version of the object of my desire! Price on the box - $6!!!! Doing my best to hide my excitement, I inspected the set. The box was in fairly beat up shape but the booklet was pristine and the 2 LPs looked clean. I told the guy that I'd take it and he looked it over one last time and said "four bucks"! I damn near dropped my wallet while fishing out the singles to pay the man. When I got it home, the LPs had minimal surface noise. To this day I can't believe my luck in finding this golden needle in a haystack.
:thmbsp:
 
A few good finds. A 1st copy of Revolver for $2 MINTY fresh with Chad and Jeremy on the flipside. Label and pressing. Still trying to figure that one out.

Picked up a Misfits collection at my comic book store a while back too.

All 1st unless noted

Cough Cool
Bullet
Horror Business 2nd yellow double "A" sided
Night of the Living Dead
Beware red and Fiend Club
3 Hits from hell
Who Killed Marilyn black and a purple swirl
Walk Among Us press promo
Evillive Fiend Club (4 copies)
Die Die My Darling yellow label (Glenn's personal copy)
Legacy of Brutality all different versions including pink
Static Age red yellow and purple + the promo cassette

I traded about $500 worth of stuff at the time, mostly Spawn and X-Men. I didn't know what they would be worth until a few years ago. One of my favorite bands. My son has since decided to "confiscate" the lot into his collection.
 
CGriswald309 said:
Hmmm...maybe a Richard Groove Holmes "Welcome Home" from Good Will...I think it was a dollar.

I could easily have passed over some records with a very high resale value as I have no clue which ones are worth anything. :D
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Windwalker said:
wow I pass up Jim's albums all the time
maybe I need to keep a closer eye on stuff


Wonder if I pass over other 'rare' stuff- how's the best way to know?



Looked em up where?
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I look at piles and piles of vinyl in thrift stores and junk shops all the time. I pick up anything in good shape that interests me musically, but I really don't have a clue what to pick up that I'm not familiar with. Unfortunately, most of the stuff I find looks like it's been run over with a road grader.
 
My collection began 12 years ago. Back then vinyls were relatively easy to find. So I lucked out a lot. But by far the most valuable one I have is Mozart's Die Zauberfote by Karl Bohm conducting Vienna Phil. It is a Decca FFSS SXL 2215/7. I don't know how much they worth though. Does anyone know where I can find the value of it?

mrTT
 
OneMalt said:
Kinda' a long story...

---

Fast forward to May of this year. I was attending a local record show. You know the scene, aisle after aisle of long tables where vendors show their wares mostly out of cardboard boxes. I had been around the room a couple of times when I stopped at a table where this vendor only had a couple of boxes and really didn't have anything that caught my immediate attention. I don't know why but I decided to go through his stuff and about half way through the first box - you guessed it - the LP version of the object of my desire! Price on the box - $6!!!! Doing my best to hide my excitement, I inspected the set. The box was in fairly beat up shape but the booklet was pristine and the 2 LPs looked clean. I told the guy that I'd take it and he looked it over one last time and said "four bucks"! I damn near dropped my wallet while fishing out the singles to pay the man. When I got it home, the LPs had minimal surface noise. To this day I can't believe my luck in finding this golden needle in a haystack.
:thmbsp:
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Great story! Nice work, an inspiration to crate diggers everywhere! :thmbsp:
 
Most recent find was at an indoor flea market (many vendors)... one vendor has a healthy vinyl offering... and the prices are usually under $4...

Ive been looking alot in the last year for old C&W LP's... not the "Best Of" type stuff, but old studio albums...

So about 6 mos ago i flip my way to see a rather unimpressive Wayon Jennings 'Singer of Sad Songs' on RCA... i check the date, not being a true Waylon afficiando.. 1970... Looks good to me..

I get home and after listening to his cover of Honky Tonk Woman, realize this is a really great LP.... and in NM- shape!

I paid $1 for it. Apparently its the hardest Waylon LP to find, and my ebay searches for it show it is selling for anywhere from $50-$100

Go figure... (on a side note... I pass over about 1200 Jim Reeves LP a minute when im at this flea market. How many LPs did the man release??? Perhaps Ill have to try to figure out which Jim Reeves are rare and which are better used as wallpaper when bought in bulk.)
 
The most valuable record I ever found was not valuable money wise but was valuable due to the content and the quality of the stamping itself as well as the perfect condition of the record.
It was "The Pops Goes Country" which was Chet Atkins using the Boston Pops as a backup band basically.
1966 RCA Dynagroove ( I know that dynagroove is a bad word to some people But I love the way they sound...to each his own I guess) anyway It still has the cellophane on it and is absolutely flawless . $1.00 at a flea market. Best record I've ever heard

Taylor
 
I recently bought a few of "Jazz / New age" lots off ebay for $9.99 each lot of 8-10 LPs.

Half of them were Nirvana audiophile editions, some of them sealed the rest unsealed but probably never played. The music is great, the sound terrific and the vinyl dead quiet.
 
I bought a 1969 re-issue of The Beatles's Rubber Soul, with the green target-style Capitol label. I heard that they're supposed to be worth a lot because they're so rare, but the record isn't in mint condition, so I'm not holding my breath about it being worth anything. Anyway, I wouldn't sell it, because I love that album; it's my favourite Beatles LP haha

Other than that, nothing too big comes to mind. And when I'm buying in a real record store, I used to buy the re-issues because they're cheaper lol, but now I buy the most expensive copy of a certain LP they got, after I bought a badly distorted copy of Gordon Lightfoot's "Summer Side of Life" album. Luckily I have it on 8 track as well.
 
Oh, I dunno. I don't much go into value as far as what Goldmine or whomever says. I've made a few finds that to me where worth their weight in gold...
 
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