Anybody who has wondered whether that loved album or single is valuable might be heartened by checking out the facts on the Internet. Several sites are available to find out how much your record is going for. It is simpler to search for a specific record value rather than looking for a table of most valuable but if you want to make some money by buying and selling, you need to know what is in demand.

Many discs thought to be classics, are not of great value because they were pressed in such large numbers. It’s a bit like the difference in value between a first edition of the first Harry Potter book and the latest. The first had a print run of around 500 copies, while the latest was 1 million! So, Sergeant Pepper is not of great value even though it is important. One surprise is that The Four Pennies album “Mixed Bag” (Philips 1966) is being offered for £150 on one site. Now without wishing to insult anybody, would you pay that for a Four Pennies album? On another site, the same album is available for £99. This is quite a difference and perhaps not one that can be explained by condition alone. Pricing by sellers is becoming confusing because regular or professional dealers are being undercut by collectors deciding to prune or get rid of their record collections. In particular, the likes of Amazon and ebay have brought a great many extra sellers to market and prices are likely to drop. Whether you are a dealer or collector, if you think that prices are falling already, do let us know.

For collectors having to stick to a budget, it might be wise to wait to see what happens to prices in the near future. We would be pleased to receive the opinions of collectors and sellers alike on this subject. Let us know about your great purchases in the music forum [0].