Goldmine’s Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (book, 5th edition)

Es­ti­mated reading time is 5 minutes.

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 the ar­ti­cles above can be found at the end of this article.


MY FINAL BOOK FOR KRAUSE was the fifth edi­tion of Gold­mine’s Price Guide To Col­lectible Record Al­bums, pub­lished in 1996. A lot had changed: the first four edi­tions had hipped people to just how rare and valu­able some records were, and they had in­creased in­terest in finding those records—sometimes at what­ever cost it took.

The book had also changed: this new edi­tion was 814 pages, more than twice the length of the first edi­tion! This al­lowed me to add thou­sands of list­ings to the main discogra­phies, plus I was able to add two new sec­tions: one listed for sound­track al­bums that fea­tured rock music, and an­other for var­ious artists albums.

I had rewritten a new system for grading records that is still the basis for all the Gold­mine books by all the Gold­mine au­thors that have fol­lowed. There was a sec­tion that ad­dressed label de­scrip­tions for 150 record com­pa­nies. Plus I was able to write a few ar­ti­cles on things that in­ter­ested me, like a piece on the his­tory of PET SOUNDS (Many, many things have been written about this album since, but I’ll betcha a buck-three-eighty that you’d still enjoy mine.)

Christo­pher Chatman ex­panded his ar­ticle on col­lecting RIAA Gold Record Awards and added one on col­lecting acetates.

It was a good book.

 

NU GM LP 5 800

I was also given con­trol of the cover de­sign: against a black back­ground were four album covers. Each one rep­re­sented an album that could be found in that jacket worth a few dollars—or a few thou­sand dol­lars. You had to know how to look and that was what this book promised! The four al­bums were THE FREE­WHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN from 1963, JEF­FERSON AIR­PLANE TAKES OFF and the Bea­tles’ YES­TERDAY AND TODAY from 1966, and David Bowie DI­A­MOND DOGS from 1974.

Most valuable albums (1996)

The most valu­able al­bums list in the fifth edi­tion was pared down from one-hundred to fifty. I did this to keep the list more fo­cused; a hun­dred was too big to make sense. Hell, fifty may have been too many. The changes in seven years were as­ton­ishing: six of the records that were in the Top 10 in 1989 were dis­placed by 1996!

The #10 album in the first edi­tion was valued at $1,200; in this fifth edi­tion, it was $10,000. The time they were a-changin’—although not everyone ap­pre­ci­ated or en­joyed those changes.

$25,000

Bob Dylan
The Free­wheelin’ Bob Dylan
Co­lumbia CS-8786 (stereo). Orig­inal pressing with deleted tracks.
First edi­tion value: This album was not known to exist in 1989.

Bea­tles
In­tro­ducing The Beatles
Vee-Jay LPS-1062 (stereo). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and the back cover has the song ti­tles in two columns.
First edi­tion value: This album was not known to exist in 1989

$20,000

Billy Ward & The Dominoes
Billy Ward & The Dominoes
Fed­eral 295-94 (mono). Ten-inch album.
First edi­tion value:
$1,200

$15,000

Bob Dylan
The Free­wheelin’ Bob Dylan
Co­lumbia CL-1986 (mono). Orig­inal pressing with deleted tracks.
First edi­tion value: $4,000

Mid­nighters
Their Greatest Hits
Fed­eral 295-90 (mono). Ten-inch album.
First edi­tion value: This album was not known to exist in 1989.

$13,000

Ike & Tina Turner
River Deep, Moun­tain High
Philles PHLP-4011 (mono). Amer­ican pressing with­drawn shortly after release.
First edi­tion value: $2,000

$12,500

Bea­tles
In­tro­ducing The Beatles
Vee-Jay LPS-1062 (stereo). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and ad-back cover.
First edi­tion value: $2,50

Bea­tles
The Bea­tles And Frank Ifield On Stage
Vee-Jay LPS-1085 (stereo). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and ad-back cover.
First edi­tion value: $3,000

Bea­tles
Hear The Bea­tles Tell All
Vee-Jay PRO-202 (mono). White label promo.
First edi­tion value: This album was not known to exist in 1989.

$10,000

Elvis Presley
Elvis’ Christmas Album
RCA Victor LOC-1035 (mono). Red vinyl.
First edi­tion value: This album was not known to exist in 1989.

Bea­tles
A Hard Day’s Night
United Artists UAS-6366 (stereo). Pink vinyl. This record was man­u­fac­tured by a pressing plant em­ployee and was not au­tho­rized by the record com­pany. There may only be one or two copies.
First edi­tion value: This album was not known to exist in 1989.

 

DavidBowie DiamondDogs gatefold genitals 900

David Bowie’s DI­A­MOND DOGS with the gate­fold jacket open so the front and back cover can be seen. This is the orig­inal jacket with the Bowiedog’s gen­i­talia vis­ible be­tween his hind legs. On most copies of this jacket, that area has been black­ened with the of­fending member no longer visible.

Where’s Bowie and Elvis?

Sev­eral al­bums that had been in the Top 10 in the first edi­tion (1989) failed to make the Top 10 in the fifth edi­tion (1996). I have listed them below with the values as­signed each in the two books:

Bea­tles
Yes­terday And Today
Capitol ST-2553 (stereo). First state butcher cover.
First edi­tion value: $5,000
Fifth edi­tion value: $9,000

David Bowie
Di­a­mond Dogs
RCA Victor APL1-0576 (stereo). The Bowiedog’s gen­i­tals are vis­ible on the cover.
First edi­tion value: $3,000
Fifth edi­tion value: $3,000

Elvis Presley
Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite
RCA Victor VPSX-6089 (quadra­phonic). Chicken Of The Sea “Sneak Pre­view” sticker on the jacket.
First edi­tion value: $2,000
Fifth edi­tion value: $3,000

Bea­tles
The Bea­tles Vs. The Four Seasons
Vee-Jay DXS-30 (stereo). Double-album.
First edi­tion value: $1,500
Fifth edi­tion value: $3,000

Bea­tles
Yes­terday And Today
Capitol T-2553 (mono). First state butcher cover.
First edi­tion value: $1,500
Fifth edi­tion value: $4,000

Bea­tles
In­tro­ducing The Beatles
Vee-Jay LP-1062 (mono). Rainbow label with Love Me Do and ad-back cover.
First edi­tion value: $1,200
Fifth edi­tion value: $4,000

 

NU GM LP 4 600x

This was the pre­vious, fourth edi­tion of the Gold­mine album book.

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