Vinyl Adventures

[Noxin]

I was feeling restless today and so took a look at a box I'd had sitting in the corner of the room for ages, I'd stashed it there some months ago, after having to move it elsewhere, where it had previously been stashed.
This box has been stashed in more places than the crown jewels over the years and resprisents a small portion of a huge collection of old Vinyl LPs and singles the family has been stashing since the 80's.

Browsing through them, the most obvious thing to hit me is that these are poorly kept, 60% of them are floating around without covers and a feair few are scratched into oblivion.
Never the less I decieded to persevere, finding pretty soon into my explorations a fairly rare collection of David Bowie picture discs: http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=24905

the binder is a little shabby, but can be cleaned up, and each disc is perfectly protected inside and looks to have never been touched. Quids in!

Inspired by this discovery I then spend 3-4 hours painstakingly checking each single 1 by 1, we're talking at least 1000 singles in total.
Through the course of my browsing I come across the occasional lucky find, a nice small collection of these:
http://eil.com/shop/presetlist.asp?page ... avid-Bowie

I don't know who the Bowie fan was, but, Thanks!

Also alongside this nice little pieces are several rare promo copies of various high profile singles, most of which will require some extensive research to discover their value, as there are no other copies available online. And trust me if it's even remotely rare you're likely to find a copy on ebay or at least information about it on some database site.

Before ending my browsing today I came across the prize of the day, an amazingly rare 7" album, by the "New wave of British Heavy Metal" band, Energy, the album being called, Conquer the world. Upon investigation this specific album is worth in the region of 100-150 pound. But what makes it so special is what drew my attention to it.
I noticed someone had written their name on the back of it, it's not a rare thing on Vinyl, I think everyone back then wrote their name on their records at some point.
But what made me look again was the fact on the other side were 3 other names signed too.
It had been signed by all 4 members of the band. This not only increases the value of it significantly, but is also a one of a kind, mega ultra uber rare.. It is the only reference to the band's 3rd and 4th member, all credit is given only to 2 members in all recorded information.

Given the significance of my find, I promoptly hit Google for some help, after an hour or so I had the contact details of one of the original signees, who I then E-Mailed. In reply I recieved confirmation that it is genuine, valuable and further info on another member of the band and correction of his name.

Obviously, I'm going to be Ebaying my pants of over the coming days, I'll use this thread to post reports.
What makes this even more exciting is the fact, this is just a small portion of the singles, I've still got at least 2000 LPs to get through, and I KNOW some of them are very rare!

[Ingo]

what's your address again?

[Superfast Oz]

why aren't you working on legacy?

[Toki]

why aren't you working on legacy?

lols

[Noxin]

Phase 2

I've now gone through the first stack of 1000 singles and 100 albums.
The result is 30 singles and 7 albums that are worth good amounts of money, ranging from 10 pounds to over 100.

Before the selling can begin however I've had to make a few investments, gathering information from professional collectors, I've learned the best way to clean them is to use medical Isoproypl alcohol distilled with 10 parts mineral water.

So today I have ordered..
50 meters of small bubble wrap.
500ml of Isoproypl (99.9% pure) alcohol.
50 x 7" white paper vinyl inserts.
50 x 7" white cardboard stiffened vinyl mailers.
2 x Professional quality Anti-static cloth.

So far my profits from my adventures into Vinyl land stand at:
Negative 35 GBP

Phase 3 will commence in 2-3 days once my supplies arrive.

I've been breathing dust from the 60's and I like it!

[Lady Redname]

is ebay the best option? how about a genuine collectors auction type thingy, thats what the antiques roadshow uses


i think we need to start a ebay roadshow, would be a rl hit

[Noxin]

Collectors of pretty much everything use Ebay these days, it's in their best interest as buyers as well as the sellers.
Taking them to a vinyl specialist shop locally for example will get you a much lower return, simply because they won't offer the "real" value or they'd make nothing themselves.

From the research I've been doing into the whole Vinyl collection market and community, Ebay really does seem like my best option.
I'll need to use recorded delivery for the big ones, but postage costs are generally shouldered by the buyer.
Shipping internationally would be my biggest problem, with old vinyl you really have to package them correctly, the difference between the condition scaling of near mint and excellent is very small, and a very large price decrease from damages.
It's why I've opted for the pre-designed 7" posters, They'll still be slightly loose, but that I'll remedy with a little non-abrasive bubblewrap.

The whole endevour is great fun too, who wouldhave thought that box that's been pissing me off and getting in the way contained pure gold.

[Nixon]

I wonder just how many people have items like that hidden away though, of all types. I mean I'll take our family for example, theres stuff thats been inherited through the family for example, some of which is completely useless and kept in a box like your vinyls were, provided the item has no real sentimental value, its certainly worth conisdering selling or at least valuing.

[Lego]

I will never have a find. I throw stuff away all the time. Each time I move, I give 80% of my junk to charity or the dump.

[Joe]

lego is making binmen rich now thats just wrong

[Superfast Oz]

after looking at his pic, i conclude calix is a rich bin man

[Calix]

u ded

[Buster]

Rich bin man!!