vinyl collectable records and more

 The term “vinyl collectable records” can have different meanings to the various people that engage themselves in this hobby. The variations are seemingly endless. There are those that collect one genre, one particular artist or era only, 78s, 45s, promo copies, test pressings, one hit wonders, comedy, children’s, etc. etc. Anything that has to do with vinyl records is collectable. “Anything” can include any information about the particular artist(s), the creative process, the recording process, the promotion, the artwork on the covers, packaging, liner notes, producers, and engineers. Just about any information concerning a particular record or artist is collectable to someone out there. Some became inadvertent collectors by not getting rid of the vinyl records they purchased through the years, thus after a period of time find themselves with a whole bunch of vinyl records that are now considered collectable.

 Vinyl records themselves are just flat disc shaped inanimate objects made of plastic (polyvinyl chloride) with a groove on each side. These grooves contain what makes records collectable. The collectable information can be music, spoken word, or sound effects. Anything that makes a sound can be recorded and put on a vinyl record.
 
 Placing value on vinyl collectable records is very arbitrary. Most of the values shown in price guides are inflated to a degree and can fluctuate considerably. Only you as a collector can determine what price you are willing to pay.
 
 But all was not lost. There were and still are enough diehards that believe vinyl records sound better. This in itself created a market for old vinyl records considered collectable. Some albums will never be released in digital format in their original form for one reason or another. These are all highly collectable.
 
  With the nostalgia business gaining momentum some people started to realize that their old vintage vinyl records have some collectable value. As with anything collectable; vinyl records are no different. There is only so much of it out there. How many millions of records were pressed throughout the years? How many were lost, thrown away, given away, used for target practice or skeet or just plain abused to the point of being worthless? We generally don’t think of this at the time. Only later on do we look back nostalgically and think “man, I wish I still had that! ”or ask" It’s worth HOW MUCH?!!”
Vinyl records really didn’t become so highly collectable until the 1980s. The digital age was starting to change the way music was recorded and played back. With the development of digital recording and the compact disc it seemed the vinyl record as we knew it was doomed. The record companies started phasing out vinyl records and soon there was nothing but compact discs available. As we moved from one technology to another people started replacing their old favorite records and tapes with compact discs and replacing their turntables with cd players, now some are abandoning it all for MP3 players, with an obsession for compression. All this new technology spawned another collectable category of “Vintage HI FI and stereo equipment".

Good Luck on your record collecting journey

  The album on the left was originally released in 1963 as a limited edition. It was out of print until 2007 when it was re-released on CD with additional material included. You can click on it for more details.