Long before the days of iTunes, Spotify, CDs and cassettes, there was something called a vinyl record. There were three types – a 78, 45 or 33 – and these discs captured and reproduced the music of the day to the delight of millions.
And although an active global vinyl market flourishes, the halcyon days of yesteryear are long gone, with many most people under the age of 40 unable to comprehend what picture discs and while vinyl actually are!
Yet there is tremendous value in some vinyl records – up to £1.5 million in one celebrated case. So Sorted has taken a look around and if you happen to own some of the records we have dug up, you might just be sitting on a goose that could have the ability of laying you a golden egg…
Wu-Tang Clan – Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
Value: £1.5 million
This is the most valuable record in the entire world, which belongs to a hip-hop outfit, the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. This metal record could be purchased by anyone, provided that it would not be resold for an entire century! This requirement made it a hotly contested ‘cultural artifact’.
Elvis Presley – My Happiness
Value: £200,000+
The King began his lengthy musical journey with My Happiness, and seeing as it was his first record, you can bet that it is worth more money than most people could hope to earn in their lives. The last time a pristine copy was sold, it went for just over £200,000 in a December 2015 auction.
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Value: £200,000
If you thought that one Beatles member’s signature was worth a fortune, then you can be sure that adding the rest of their names to a record’s cover will inflate its value astronomically.
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy
Value: £100,000
This was one of the few albums that John Lennon and Yoko Ono managed to put together before the former Beatles member was tragically murdered, and he signed one copy only hours prior to the horrifying event. It was last sold in 1999.
Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hill – Original Stack O’Lee Blues (78 rpm)
Value: £40,000
When there only happens to be one copy of a famous record, you can bet that its value will be massive. This record’s worth is also boosted due to it being produced in as a 78 rpm disc, having been among the first to be captured using electronic recording technology.
Darrell Banks – Open The Door To Your Heart/Our Love (Is In The Pocket)
Value: £20,000
Darrel Banks lived a short but successful life, dying at the tender age of just 32. He had one major hit in his limited time as a producer, and this disc is highly sought after.
Other records worth a small fortune include:
- Jean-Michel Jarre – Music for Supermarkets: £23,000
- Junior McCants – Try Me For Your New Love / She Wrote It I Read It: £10,000.
- Dark – Dark Round The Edges: $12,000
- Ferris Wheel – Supernatural Girl: £12,000
- Genesis – The Silent Sun/That’s Me! (1980): £3,500.
- The Who, The Who Sell Out (1967): £850
- Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (1969): £800
- Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (1959): £800