THE SERIES OF ARTICLES about the books I have published have a loose chronology and narrative that makes the most sense if read in this order:
1. Rock & Roll Record Albums Price Guide (1985)
2. Elvis Presley Record Price Guide (1985)
3. A Touch Of Gold – Elvis Presley Price Guide (1990)
4. Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (1st edition, 1991)
5. Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Jazz Albums (1992)
6. Goldmine’s Rock’n Roll 45RPM Record Price Guide (1994)
7. Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (5th edition, 1996)
8. Blues And Rhythm & Blues 45s Of The ’50s (2000)
Links to these articles can be found at the end of this article.
I CONFESS that I allowed myself to be wooed by Krause Publications. This was 1988 and it was a reasonably easy decision. Along with a book division, Krause publishes Goldmine magazine, then the number one record collectors magazine in the world. Goldmine and Umphred seemed natural, right. And so it was!
After O’Sullivan Woodside closed its doors for business, I foundered for a while. I considered self-publishing more price guides, but this was difficult as such an endeavor was a rather expensive proposition prior to the Internet and Print-on-Demand. So a conversation with Krause served both our interests at the time.
KP and I agreed that the flagship book had to be one focused on LP albums, easily the most collected format. The first edition of Goldmine’s Price Guide To Collectible Record Albums was the result.
The reader will find approximately 20,000 listings that cover the most collectible records in the business.
Like my OW book, it covered many musical genres although it favored rock and related genres. Also, like the OW book, the Goldmine book only listed records manufactured in the United States.
And like the OW book, I continued in the same directions by adding new titles and pressing variations to existing artist discographies, while introducing new artists. And of course, I continued with my ‘pricing’ system, although I felt less concern for any sticker shock that this new book might cause my readers. Still, I constrained myself a bit.
Consequently, while common records again saw their assigned values lowered modestly, I adjusted the values of the rare and desirable items to whatever I believed best represented their real market value.
Unfortunately, Krause allowed me no say on how the cover for my book would look. Hence this rather pedestrian design. The good folks in Iola finally gave me input on the cover for a fifth and final edition of my book, discussed below.
Collecting record albums
Here is the opening paragraph from my introduction to this book (found on page 6):
“As anyone who has been active in the field of record collecting in the past few years will attest, there is a real need for a single book addressing the general state of the current market. That is, a book that covers the major portion of the field and provides reasonable discographical information with accurate prices.
Goldmine’s Price Guide To Collectible Record Albums was created for that general market: included here is virtually every genre of collectible records with the exception of instrumentals (most pop and all jazz) and classical music, each of which requires a book of its own.” (I did get around to doing a jazz album guide for Goldmine; you can read about that on this site also.)
Of course, I should have worded that differently: the first sentence should have read, “As anyone who has been active in the field of collecting record albums.” Obviously, the people who collect 78s or 45s exclusively
A few paragraphs into the introduction I asked this question: So what’s not here? I answered it with one word: Lots.
“There is no attempt at completeness: rather, the reader will find approximately 20,000 listings that cover, more or less: the most collectible records in the business (excluding promos); those records that change hands the most often; and those records most in need of attention at this time.”
The book also included an article titled “Gold And Platinum Record Award Collecting” by Christopher Chatman. This was the first article to explain to the average collector the intricacies of buying authentic RIAA Gold and Platinum Record Awards. In some respects, this was the most important single feature in the book!
A second article titled “How Much Is It Worth?” by Gary Johnson of Rockaway Records addressed basic questions of supply, demand, and condition in assessing a value to a record.
This is a copy of the Beatles’ YESTERDAY & TODAY album with the “butcher cover.” Copies of this album where someone has attempted to forcefully remove the “trunk cover” slick from the “butch cover” slick are referred to as third state butcher cover or “peel jobs.” As ugly as this one appears, it is a common sight in the world of collecting records and while it has some value, it is only an ittybitty fraction of the values listed below.
Most valuable albums (1989)
I also included a list of “The 100 Most Valuable Albums” that were listed in the book. Here are the Top 10 as I found them then:
$5,000
Beatles
Yesterday And Today
Capitol ST-2553 (stereo). First state butcher cover.
$4,000
Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Columbia CL-1986 (mono). Original pressing with Gamblin’ Willie’s Dead Man’s Hand, Let Me Die in My Footsteps, Rocks and Gravel, and Talkin’ John Birch Blues. All subsequent pressings replaced these with four different tracks. (In 1989, stereo copies of this album with the four original tracks were not known to exist.)
$3,000
David Bowie
Diamond Dogs
RCA Victor APL1-0576 (stereo). The Bowiedog’s genitals are visible on the cover.
Beatles
The Beatles And Frank Ifield On Stage
Vee-Jay LPS-1085 (stereo). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and back cover with advertisements for other LPs.
$2,500
Beatles
Introducing The Beatles
Vee-Jay LPS-1062 (stereo). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and back cover with advertisements for other LPs.
Elvis Presley
Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite
RCA Victor VPSX-6089 (quadraphonic). Chicken Of The Sea “Sneak Preview” sticker on the jacket.
$2,000
Ike & Tina Turner
River Deep, Mountain High
Philles PHLP-4011 (mono). American pressing was withdrawn shortly after release.
$1,500
Beatles
The Beatles Vs. The Four Seasons
Vee-Jay DXS-30 (stereo). Double-album.
Beatles
Yesterday And Today
Capitol T‑2553 (mono). First state butcher cover.
$1,200
Beatles
Introducing The Beatles
Vee-Jay LP-1062 (mono). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and back cover with advertisements for other LPs.
Billy Ward & The Dominoes
Billy Ward & The Dominoes
Federal 295–94 (mono). Ten-inch album.
The last twenty-six records on the list shared a value of $300. Today, a list of the one hundred most valuable albums such as this one would all top the thousand dollar figure.
Krause was a bit uncertain about the waters into which they were about to wade, so this first edition was a slender one—a mere 384 pages in length. Due to this limitation, I was not able to include a section at the back of the book for the most collected rock soundtracks and various artists albums.
Goldmine’s Price Guide To Collectible Record Albums was published in 1989 and was an immediate hit, selling considerably more copies than the people at Krause had anticipated.
And that was that for then.
By the time that I did my final edition for Krause, a lot had changed: the book was now more than 600 pages in length and I was given control of the cover!
Click here to read more about that book.
After the huge sales of this book, they saw the error of their ways and the second edition was 606 pages. Plus this was a much better cover design!
About my other books
There are eight articles on this site explaining the various books I published for record collectors. They are best read in the following order, which is roughly chronological:
1. O’Sullivan Woodside’s Rock & Roll Record Albums Price Guide
2. O’Sullivan Woodside’s Elvis Presley Record Price Guide
3. Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (1st edition)
4. Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (5th edition)
5. Goldmine’s Rock’n Roll 45RPM Record Price Guide
6. Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Jazz Albums
7. A Touch Of Gold – Elvis Record & Memorabilia Price Guide
8. Blues and R&B 45s of the ’50s Price Guide
