Reply With QuoteThat's rather impressive. I think that the done thing is to flog the lot on here for £125.
Help needed if possible,
I’ve inherited a substantial amount of vinyl records off my dad who was an avid collector. I have no clue on what to do with them, I’d love to keep them however my sister is entitled to half of them and I’m also getting my ear chewed off by the Mrs to now get rid. I have maybe 20 boxes each box approximately 130 records in each, all in mint condition with a protective sleeve dating from the 50s, he was a big Beatles fan & hollies fan he collected all sorts of music. I know there’s also some quite rare records in there, one offs or promos which are quite valuable.
I thought it maybe worth while asking in here on how I could move them on.
Thanks in advance Wes.
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That's rather impressive. I think that the done thing is to flog the lot on here for £125.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Research what might be valuable and sell separately and auction the rest.
Buy a recent copy of record collector book before you start selling. I found the Hollies more collectible than the Beatles when I sold loads early in the 00's , although the Beatles were also easy sellers. Most of mine was shipped to Japan to collectors there.Edit;I see you already have one in the pics. That's where to start.
Last edited by Toad monitor; 7th November 2024 at 08:48.
Discogs!
https://www.discogs.com
If they all have sticker prices on them like the £10 one in the picture, your father may have priced them up already.
Either with price paid, or value when hey were stickered up.
As above, research first.
My mate has an original Pink Floyd dark side of the moon album with the paper insert intact, and he reacons it might be worth a few hundred due to it having the full set. Later versions had no insert.
Sleeve condition could be important for a collector.
Online will have a bigger audience than an auction house.
Or a specialist record shop in Liverpool might take the lot. (after you have researched values)
Good luck.
The easiest way is to get a record seller to do a home visit to assess the collection, it won’t get you the most value from it but it will be easy, the most profitable way is going to be doing the hard work in researching each one, like with watches there are small nuances between different pressings or covers that only a expert will know about and be able to see, it’s just as a geeky world as we are in with watches .
Cheers..
Jase
When we moved we had two boxes of lp’s in the loft. Not great condition appx 20/25 lp’s in each. As we were moving to rental space was a premium so with permission I skipped my wife’s collection. I squirrelled mine into a corner.
Once in the renter with no room we sent my box to an auction with some furniture. £175 sir !
So moral of the story , do your research before letting them go for a low / no price
Steve
Takes me back to a former life, I used to deal in records and travel to record fairs all over the country in the late 70s and early 80s. For most groups the stuff that hit the charts won’t be worth too much because they sold in huge numbers. The rare stuff are the records that flopped, take David Bowie for example, anything released between 1964 and 1970 with the exclusion of Space Oddity is worth money. Demos and promos by top acts are worth money and some like the early Pink Floyd demos came in picture sleeves and they are worth big bucks.
I used to dabble in the days before Record Collector and like taxi drivers, we had the knowledge. It was fun going through sellers boxes hoping they had missed something rare and offered it for peanuts.
OP mentions The Hollies, they were never on my radar as such with little being of any great value, The Beatles money was in the albums, stereo versions of the early albums and mono versions of the later albums bizarrely.
I wouldn’t know current values as it’s decades since I got involved, but as stated the record collector book is worth buying and checking through. A record fair would be a better place to sell than the likes of a car boot. e-bay might be better, but that will involve lots of effort.
There are dealers who will buy collections, which might give you a quick and easy win, but like all dealers in all fields they will be hoping to buy cheap in order to maximise their profits.
I would be paying for an appraisal, with c.2600 LP’s the scope for variation in value is significant , from low thousands up. The path of least resistance leads to the bank account of despair!
From the pictures I`m assuming the records are stored in alphabetical order, might've been easier if they were in genres and categories. 60s-mid 70s soul singles can be worth a lot, but finding them in a collection that's alphabetical will be like finding a ' Needle in a Haystack' (pun intended).
There speaks a man who never spent his life in Record Fairs, most collectors know exactly what they are looking for and will go straight to it. The number of times I’ve gone straight to W and looked to see what they had by The Who, then walked off. If a dealer couldn’t sort his stuff out, most collectors couldn’t be bothered wasting time hunting through their boxes.
Take The Who, are they mod, R&B, Pop, Blues, Rock - a little bit of each I suspect, so good luck in sorting them into genres.
Alphabetical is the way to go and the ones at the front do have prices on them. Was he a dealer, in which case your work is partly done.
Originally Posted by Mr Curta
Joking aside, an impressive collection from your Dad Kippy, a fair bit of research should bring a nice few bob.
Cheers,
Neil.
Sorting alphabetically doesn't really work for the soul stuff in my opinion. I also noticed the prices on sleeves, which is a bit strange, I suspected maybe he was a dealer at some point.
With the vinyl revival showing no signs of abating (I thought it would be a passing fad) there will be significant value in this collection, regardless of the financial side I prefer to think of records going to a good home rather than being scrapped.
Personally I`d be interested in any Northern Soul records in there but I can`t claim any expertise on values.
My dad wasn’t a dealer, just obsessed with making sure everything was priced correctly, he spent many hours doing his own research and enjoyed telling me how much a certain LP was worth or gone up each year.
He was a proper into the detail, he’s got files and files of each record, place of purchase, date, price he paid etc.
Appreciate the feedback so far guys. I’ve plenty to research.
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Dutch record stores use the 'genre' and then the 'alphabetical order'. I walked into a record store the other day and I was surprised in-a-not-so-positive way about the retail prices of older records. Nasty prices for most records. Just take your time when you decide about selling, keeping and the asking price. And do extensive research!
I have wondered over the years if the market is still strong for 60s and 70s vinyl. In Liverpool you get loads of Japanese and American tourists each summer who want to soak up anything Beatles, but how many would consider paying £5k for a Gold label stereo pressing of the first album.
Years ago and I mean 40 or so there was a very strong collectors market for Elvis, but I did read that as a lot of these serious guys are now dying the values of their records have fallen with many simply being passed to auction houses and flooding the market and no real new collectors to sweep them up.
I called it quits around 1983/84 when every new single came out in 12”, 12” disco mix, 5 different coloured vinyls and a picture disc. It just got stupid. I moved across into Rock memorabilia at that point, but that’s a different story.
Rather like the railway memorabilia, from the age of steam particularly, bottom dropped out of that market for similar reasons as many of the collectors passed away.
I believe getting things to the widest audience possible is a good idea. In the past I've sold various items including ceramics (think Poole pottery), antique Meerschaum pipes and antique gas and oil wall lights on the Bay. Provided you have an inkling of the value to set the start price, the audience reach is much better than provincial auction rooms. Something to ponder.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
As has been said already, the value of your Father's collection could be considerable. In 2016 I put my two record cases (around 100 albums mostly from the 70s) into a local non-specialist auction and too my surprise received £750 for them. They were mainly Bowie, Stones, Floyd, Deep purple, John Martyn, a couple of Beatles and the like. All in played but taken care of condition.
I don't know what appealed to the buyer, but later I did look up the potential value of my 1972 pressing of Pink Moon - I was shocked! There's one on ebay at the moment for £995. So as well as many being worth, say, £10-£30 the odd rarity can be very valuable indeed (whether anyone is going to buy the Nick Drake album off ebay at that price is another matter)
The generational aspect definitely affects values of collectibles, that's bound to apply to records too.
I grew up with vinyl, when CD came along in the mid-late 80s like many I was a convert, CDs had so many advantages although I was never totally convinced on the sound quality argument. Fast forward to 2017, having once decided to sell my nice Thorens turntable (photos taken, heading for eBay at £250) I did a U turn and re-commissioned it, a change in furniture made this feasible. I invested in an expensive stylus for the Goldring cartridge and was amazed at the sound quality off some vinyl vs CD where I owned both CD and vinyl. Who's Next and Quadrophenia stick in my mind, the vinyl sounded better and that's compared against a top quality CD player, not a cheapo. To quote the Who, 'Won't Get Fooled Again, if I choose to sit back and really listen to music vinyl wins.......most times. there are exceptions, the Clash London's Calling album sounds far better on the remastered CD version than the original vinyl.
Whilst visiting friends recently I stumbled across a record collectors fair at Saltburn and found a few racks of Northern Soul singles that had obviously come from the same source, I suspect the owner had died or decided to sell his collection. A few were priced at around £50-£150 but most were in the affordable £10-£20 range. Despite vowing never to go down the rabbit hole of collecting Northern Soul vinyl I couldn't resist buying a couple despite the fact I`ve got both on compilation CDs. Collecting is a state of mind, or maybe an affliction, you either get it or you don't. Same applies to watches, there's something about knowing you own an item even though it hardly ever sees the light of day.
Buying second-hand vinyl records always seems fraught with pitfalls, maybe I lack a keen eye but I can inspect a record, decide it looks OK with no obvious scratches or damage only to find it sounds like someone's frying chips when playing it. Unless the record can be played and listened to I don't think the condition can be properly assessed.
I wish the OP well in disposing of this collection, but I would definitely explore the possibilities for keeping it especially if his dad only died recently. I`m less sentimental as I`ve grown older but I still regret not keeping some of my late father's stuff. When getting rid of his clothes I came a cross a grey short overcoat he'd had tailor-made in the early 70s, real quality item, dad and I were the same size and build so it's no surprise that it fitted me perfectly. Should've kept it, but clearing the house forced me into a mindset where sentiment was displaced by practicality. I'd advise anyone in the same position not to fall into this trap, even keeping stuff for a few months can help in making the 'right' decision.
I've been a longtime music collector and Discogs is where to start, Kippax.
Your father has clearly cherished his collection and put significant time into its collation and care. There is potential for some very valuable records buried within. It may be worth £1,000, or £50,000 or more. Some time spent on Discogs will give you a feel for its value and saleability.
If I were closer, I would gladly help you go through it. If you'd like some help, feel free to PM me.
Cheers
The interest for records is quite narrow: a lot of old geezers like me, hankering for the pre CD-sound. It's not a volume market, but most potential buyers have deep pockets nowadays. They buy what they couldn't afford in the old days. Look at the prices of turntables. The reasonable quality t/t starts around 400 euros/ 380 gbp. And the sky is the limit. Restored Duals and Thorens players from the 70s fetch the same amount.
There is money to be spend in that market.
If you don't want to go the discogs / Ebay route you could try this:
https://www.omegaauctions.co.uk/
They are near Warrington and deal with some very big collections (they had a Peter Hook auction a few years ago) and regularly have vinyl auctions.
I have bought from them and been impressed with their service and knowledge - they seem trusted in the industry.
As always it's a toss up between getting the best price and it costing a lot of time and effort or going the auction way for less money but the least hassle. Good luck it looks an interesting collection.
Whatever route you go - selling as a job lot will gain you the least return
If you want a fair price, first step is definitely to input them all to Discogs (top tip - if they have a bar code this will find the item immediately, saving time). This will give you an accurate value and flag up the ones that are really worth silly money.
The way from there is really down to how much effort you want to put in - if you list them all (or at least the high value items) on Discogs for sale at fair prices, this will probably net you the most cash and you'll be left with a much lower number of mainly less desirable items to sell off as a job lot.
If you want to sell to a dealer, at least you'll have an idea if his bid is fair or not - but beware, you WILL get a low figure - they're taking the risk of being lumped with stuff that won't sell and although vinyl has had a renaissance, it's still a small market - probably more so for 50s-60s era.
Last edited by Scepticalist; 7th November 2024 at 21:09.
I own, love and thoroughly enjoy my fair sized collection of Vinyl…. Some of the prices are quite scary…. My collection is very carefully curated and I’ve been collecting for 30+ years…. Out of curiosity (I’d never sell any) I take a peak on Discogs and I see some hefty prices…. Lots are worth relatively little, but I’d suggest it’s worth a bit of research
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