10 records that could make you a fortune

 

What goes up must come down, unless of course you are talking about the price of vintage vinyl the market is sweet music to collector’s ears and just might make you a believer if you happen to have any of these beauties tucked away in your collection.

1. BOB DYLAN // THE FREEWHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN (1963)

Dylan’s second album changed a bit just before it was supposed to be released in 1963, and those track changes can mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars if your copy falls on the right side of the fence. According to Record Mecca, four songs were replaced with newly recorded tracks, but somehow, someone at the pressing plant used the old version instead of the new masters to press an unknown number of albums. Since the album’s release, only a couple stereo copies of the mistake pressings have surfaced, and less than two dozen of the mono copies are known to exist. Thought to be one of the most valuable records in the world, a mint copy of the former once sold for $35,000.

2. THE BEATLES // THE BEATLES (WHITE ALBUM) (1968)

The Beatles’s self-titled double album (which later became known as the White Album) originally released in 1968, but not all copies were created equal. The members of the band and executives at the studio were given copies stamped with serial numbers that began with A00000, each in consecutive order (A000001, A000002, etc.). The very first copy, which Clifford J. Yamasaki of Let It Be Records purchased from an executive at Capitol Records in the 1970s, sold in 2013 for $35,000, a year after the copy with serial number A0000023 sold at auction for $13,750. The odds that you once owned a copy of the album that had a low serial number are slim to none, but not impossible.

3. DAVID BOWIE // DIAMOND DOGS (1974)

The original version of this album was withdrawn because the cover artwork featured a dog’s genitals. The label, RCA, reportedly “got nervous” and decided to airbrush the area out for the final version, but some employees were smart enough to keep the originals. Back in 2003, a copy sold on eBay for $3550. Given the amount of time that has passed since then, and the unfortunate fact that Bowie is now deceased, and you can imagine what these rare copies would sell for today.

 

4. SEX PISTOLS // “GOD SAVE THE QUEEN”/”NO FEELINGS” 7-INCH (1977)

As the story goes, English punk rock band the Sex Pistols were signed in early March 1977 by A&M Records, and then famously dropped from the label only six days later because of their behavior. When it decided to cut ties with the band, the record company had already pressed 25,000 copies of their single “God Save the Queen.” The order was given for the records to be destroyed, but over the past 39 years, nine copies have surfaced and have sold for upward of $8600. No one knows how many copies are still unaccounted for, but someone surely has to be lucky number 10.

5. HANK MOBLEY // BLUE NOTE 1568 (1957)

Between 300 and 1000 copies of this jazz record were released in 1957, and there is one small change that makes them more valuable than other records from the label. According to The Vinyl Factory, the rumor is that Blue Note ran out of labels halfway through the first pressing of the album. The standard address for the record label is 47 West 63rd NYC, but some of the records have labels that say 47 West 63rd New York 23 on one side. There is some debate about the value though, as one record that did not have the special label still sold for over $10,000 on eBay.

 

6. THE BEATLES // PLEASE PLEASE ME (1963)

According to the Beatles Collecting Guide, the album Please Please Me was released in a hurry on March 22, 1963 in Great Britain. There were multiple pressings of the album in the first year, but collectors pay attention to the labels to tell which is the rarest of them all. The very first pressing features gold lettering on a black label and is considered the “holy grail” for Beatles fans. The mono version in mint condition is worth a few hundred bucks, while the stereo version is said to be four times as valuable (in the $4200 range). If you or your parents were riding the wave with Paul and the boys from the beginning, hopefully someone had the foresight not to open the copy.

 

7. THE BEATLES // YESTERDAY AND TODAY (1966)

The original “butcher” cover of this record was not well-received, so Capitol Records spent $250,000 recalling the 750,000 copies that had already been shipped to stores. The covers were changed, but as with most recalls, some of the original copies remained out in the world and have been sold for as much as $15,300. If you unknowingly inherited one of those strays, it’s time to cash in.

 

8. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN // “SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT” 7-INCH (1973)

Collector John Marshall of moneymusic.com once told Los Angeles radio station K-Earth that Springsteen’s first release with Columbia Records can fetch as much as $5000. Discogs lists “never” as the last time a copy was sold on the website, but if you found and held onto a copy, you could be the first.

9. THE ROLLING STONES // “STREET FIGHTING MAN”/”NO EXPECTATION” (1968)

According to the listing for a record that Bonhams sold for $17,000, the original picture sleeve for the American release of The Rolling Stones’ single “Street Fighting Man” (with “No Expectations” on the b-side) featured a photograph of police brutality during riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. The record label decided it was too controversial and withdrew the sleeves. Bonhams estimates that there are between 10 and 18 copies out in the world.

10. NIRVANA // BLEACH RE-RELEASE (1992)

When Bleach was initially released in 1989, the first printing was limited to 1000 copies, which were sold to music fans at Lamefest in Seattle. Those copies are now worth a couple hundred dollars, but they are not the most valuable. The label Sub Pop experimented with different marbling techniques for the subsequent pressings, and one in particular could now worth around $1500. More of a bundle than a singular record, the red and white marbled LP was shrink-wrapped with a blue 7-inch, and there were only 500 numbered sets made.