Record Collecting - Most Valuable Records

Most Valuable Records

The following is an attempt to list some of the most valuable recordings. Data is sourced from Record Collector magazine, eBay, Popsike, the Jerry Osborne Record Price Guides, and other sources.

1. The Quarrymen – "That'll Be the Day"/"In Spite of All the Danger" (UK 78–rpm, acetate in plain sleeve, 1958). Only one copy made. The one existing copy is currently owned by Paul McCartney and has never been offered for sale since he bought it. Record Collector magazine listed the guide price at £200,000 in issue 408 (December 2012).
2. John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy (Geffen US Album, 1980). Autographed by Lennon five hours before Mark David Chapman murdered him. Sold in 1999 for $150,000. Normal issues of records involving famous people can often rocket in price when autographed, as for example in the case of a stock copy of The Beatles' "Revolver" album, fully signed by the whole band, which fetched £21,600 at auction in 2003 (Record Collector 291).
3. Original master tapes of historic recordings can fetch very high prices at auction. A tape of The Quarrymen performing live sold for £78,500 (Dogget & Hodgson, Christie's Rock And Pop Memorabilia, 2003). Other high prices for obscure Beatles-related tapes include $30,000 at Bonham's in 2008 for a recording of John Lennon singing at a party in 1973 (Record Collector 360, March 2009).
4. The earliest known tape of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards rehearsing fetched £50,250 at auction (Dogget & Hodgson).
5. Record Collector 353 (September 2008) reported tapes of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1968 Woburn Music Festival performance selling for £48,050 at Christie's.
6. The Beatles - "Love Me Do" (EMI) one-sided acetate, the only unedited version with count-in - estimated at $50,000-$100,000 in Record Collector 404 (August 2012).
7. The Beatles – Yesterday and Today (Capitol, US Album in ‘butcher’ sleeve, 1966). $47,500 for mint "first state" stereo copies. Other pressings/states are also available, in both mono and stereo with prices ranging from $150 to $10,000.
8. An acetate version of The Beatles' "Please Please Me" album from the US on Vee-Jay (1963) had a £30,000+ offer refused on it (Record Collector 342, November 2007).
9. Frank Wilson – "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" (SOUL#35019, US 7” 45–rpm in plain sleeve, 1966). One of two known copies of this Northern soul classic fetched over £25,000 (approx. $37,000) in May 2009. Northern soul is a highly collectible area, based around obscure American soul singles.
10. A copy of The Beatles' "Please Please Me" LP (the Parlophone stereo version with the black and gold label, which regularly sells for over £1,000) sold in 2009 for £22,322 (Record Collector 368, November 2009).
11. Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (CBS, US album, stereo 1963, featuring 4 tracks deleted from subsequent releases), $35,000.
12. Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hull – "Original Stack O’Lee Blues" (Black Patti, US 78–rpm in plain sleeve, 1927). $30,000 offered to Joe Bussard.
13. Jean Michel Jarre - "Music for Supermarkets" (Disques Dreyfus, France, FDM 18113), Only one copy of this LP exists. It is auctioned for 36,000FR (approx. $14,000 at the time, or about $30,000 in 2010) in Paris in 1983.
14. The Beatles – The Beatles (Parlophone UK album, 1968, numbered below 000010, black inner with poster and four colour prints), $18,000. A copy numbered 000005 sold on eBay for £19,200 British pounds sterling (over US$27,000).
15. Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico (US Album acetate, in plain sleeve, 1966 with alternate versions of tracks from official release). Estimate $40,000+. Sold on eBay, December 9, 2006, for $155,401. However bids were fake and record was relisted. Final selling price was $25,200.
16. John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Wedding Album - USA Capitol LP acetate with handwritten sleeve notes, 1969 and offered for $25,000 at Forevervinyl.com. Recent find and possibly the only acetate available of this record.
17. Elvis Presley – "Stay Away, Joe" (US, RCA Victor UNRM-9408, 1967). Single-sided promotional album of which only one well-publicized copy is known to exist, and it came directly from Presley's personal collection. Valued at $25,000+.
18. The Five Sharps – "Stormy Weather" (US, Jubilee 5104, 78 RPM, 1953). $25,000 offered to David Hall of Good Rockin' Tonight.
19. The Hornets – "I Can't Believe" (US, States 127, 78–rpm, 1953). $25,000.
20. Billy Ward & His Dominoes (Federal, 295-94, US 10” album, 1954), sold at Good Rockin' Tonight's August 4–5, 1999 'Ultra Rarities' auction for $24,200.
21. Elvis Presley's "Good Luck Charm" 33rpm single has been valued at $24,000.
22. A Sex Pistols acetate of "God Save The Queen" sold for £14,600.
23. Judy Garland – Two unreleased acetates from March 1935, $22,500 bid for the pair, failed to meet reserve.
24. Sex Pistols – "God Save the Queen" (UK A&M 7” 45–rpm with mailer, 1977). $22,000.
25. Bach, Cello Suites, Andre Levy, French Lumen 3.447-449, signed by Levy on all three records, $20,000.
26. Blind Joe Reynolds – "99 Blues" (Paramount 12983, 78 RPM, 1930), $20,000.
27. A coloured-vinyl copy of "Lafayette Blues" by The White Stripes, on Italy Records, with a hand-painted sleve, signed, with letters of authentication, sold in 2010 for $18,000 (Record Collector 384, January 2011).
28. The Beatles "Love Me Do" Demo record (with Parlophone generic sleeve) sold April 2012 for £12,100
29. An Abbey Road 1976 acetate of "Anarchy In The UK" by The Sex Pistols sold for £12,000 according to Popsike (http://www.popsike.com/php/quicksearch.php?top25=all)
30. Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (as #4 but mono version), $16,500.