By Frank “Smokin” Truat
Do you still have your collection of records? I still do (no surprise) and I wondered if there was any real value to all those LPs I purchased over the years. First, what determines the value of an album? Although albums by some major artists like The Beatles and Elvis may demand a higher number, the more valuable records are those that were from obscure artists and those that didn’t sell well.
My collection is primarily 1970’s music, and the more popular tunes, the ones we heard on top 40 radio. Records from Elvis and The Beatles are now over 60 years old and preserving them in mint condition would have been a real challenge. Collectors’ price records on their appearance and sound quality. Since records we purchased as kids are bound to show great wear and tear, their value is very low. First pressings have a higher value and having their original inserts and any posters that came with the album would increase their collectability.
For the collector, albums are not just music, they are pieces of music history, artwork, lyrics, stories, the rarest of the rare, to be cherished, and most likely never played. But, what about the hit albums that most of us bought. Once again, if they were kept in mint condition, albums like Carole King’s “Tapestry” could bring about $25. Adjusting for inflation, that’s probably close to the original value of the record off of a Sam Goody rack in 1971. Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” album would be worth about $34 today, but we paid more for it back in 1976 as it was a double album. If you were lucky enough to get the artist’s signature on the record it would also increase the value, and of course, the bigger the artist, the more desirable for the collector. I’ve heard that a signature made out to you, like “To Frank” is always not as valuable as just a plain old signature. Although 1970’s albums have some value, what makes them unique is their album cover artwork. In the world before MTV, we made tons of record purchases based on their eye-catching album art. We can all picture the “Boston” album, Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and Carole King’s “Tapestry.”
Of course, for those of us who have carried our records around all these years, selling them would be like giving away a connection to our past. It would be like losing an old friend. So, pull out an old album, put it on a shelf for a day, and see if you don’t crack a smile every time you see it!
