Value of old records? (entire list is up now)

Poststructural Pub
1

Does anyone know of an online database that could help me determine the general value of LPs and 45s from the 60s/70s? I’ve got a pile here.

Edited to add:

Here are the names of the LPs with sleeves:

John B Sebastian
The Best of the Lovin’ Spoonful
LIZARD King Crimson
Christmas and the beads of sweat - Laura Nyro
The GreatVocalists of the Big Band Era
Reflections in Blue - Brenda Lee
Soundtrack: The Franco Zeffirelli production of Romeo and Juliet
Pepper’s Pow Wow - Jim Pepper
Pentangle - Cruel Sister
LOVE
The Butterfield Blues Band
The best of Johnny Tillotson
A Young Boy’s Prayer - Steve Sanders
Rita Streich sings Great Opera Arias
Earth Opera
The very best of David Rose
Sentimental Strings - Mantovani (5 discs)
New Riders of the Purple Sage - Home, Home on the Road
Renaissance - Turn of the Cards
Sunshine Superman - Donovan
Joni Mitchell
Renaissance - Novella
Renaissance - Prologue
Quicksilver - What About Me
Pogo - Deliverin’
Peter, Paul and Mary - A Song Will Rise
Have a Marijuana - David Peel and the lower east side
REO Speedwagon - Wheels are turnin’

And the 45s (no sleeves):

Connie Francis: Jealous of You/Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
The Buckinghams: Kind of a Drag/You Make Me Feel So Good
Lulu: The Boat that I Row/To Sir with Love
The Hollies: Bus Stop/Don’t Run and Hide
The Association: Never my Love/Requiem for the Masses
B.J. Thomas and the Triumphs: Candy Baby/I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
The Flying Machine: Maybe we’ve been Loving too Long/Smile a Little Smile for Me
Frank Sinatra: Strangers in the Night/Oh, You Crazy Moon
The Angels: (Love Me) Now/My Boyfriend’s Back
The Cyrkle: Red Rubber Ball/How Can I Leave Her
The 4 Seasons: I’ve Cried Before/Sherry
Mike Douglas: High Hopes/A Song for Erik
The McCoys: Sorrow/Fever
Lynn Anderson: Rose Garden/Nothing Between Us
Deep Purple: Hush/One More Rainy Day
The Happenings: See You In September/He Thinks He’s a Hero
The Young Rascals: How Can I Be Sure/I’m So Happy Now
The Critters: Walk Like A Man Again/Don’t Let the Rain Fall Down on Me
Billy Preston: All I Wanted Was You/With You I’m Born Again
Bobby Rydell: Wild One/Little Bitty Girl
Lou Monte: What Did Washington Say/Pepino The Italian Mouse
Spanky and Our Gang: Sunday Will Never Be the Same/Distance
Gerry and the Pacemakers: I Like It/Jambalaya
The Cowsills: Hair/What is Happy?
B.J. Thomas: I’ve Been Down This Road Before/Hooked On A Feeling
Glan Campbell: How Come Every Time I Itch I End Up Scratchin’ You/Galveston
The Mamas and The Papas: Monday, Monday/Got a Feelin’
Marcie Blane: A Time to Dream/Bobby’s Girl
The Vogues: I Keep It Hid/My Special Angel
The Crtters: Younger Girl/Gone for Awhile
Classics Four: Mary, Mary, Row Your Boat/Traces
The Association: Cherish/Don’t Blame It On Me
Bobby Vinton: I Love How You Love Me/Little Barefoot Boy
Bobby Vee and the Strangers: Come Back When You Grow Up/Swahili Serenade
Gary Lewis and the Playboys: Sara Jane/Sealed with a Kiss
David Seville and the Chipmunks: Alvin’s Harmonica/The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)
The Searchers: Hi-Heel Sneakers/Love Potion Number Nine
The Chiffons: He’s So Fine/Oh My Lover
The Essex: Are You Going My Way/Easier Said Than Done
Jay and the Americans: (I’d Kill) For The Love Of A Lady/Walkin’ In The Rain
Peter and Gordon: If I Were You/A World Without Love
From the Paramount picture “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”: Breakfast at Tiffany’s/Moon River
The Walker Brothers: After the Lights Go Out/The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (No More)
Neil Sedaka: Oh! Carol/One Way Ticket (To The Blues)
The Mamas and The Papas: Dedicated to the One I Love/Free Advice
The Mamas and The Papas: Midnight Voyage/Dream A Little Dream Of Me
Peter, Paul and Mary: The House Song/Leaving on a Jet Plane
The Bee Gees: I’ve Gotta Get a Message To You/Kitty Can
The Vanilla Fudge: Come By Day, Come By Night/You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Four Seasons: Marlena/Candy Girl
Johnny Crawford: Mr. Blue/Your Nose is Gonna Grow
Johnny Cymbal: Sacred Lovers Vow/Mr. Bass Man
The Turtles: You Showed Me/Buzz Saw
Donovan: To Susan On the West Coast Waiting/Atlantis
The Critters: Mr. Dieingly Sad/It Just Won’t Be That Way
The 4 Seasons: I’ve Got You Under My Skin/Huggin’ My Pillow
Mark Dinning: Teen Angel/Bye Now Baby
The Vogues: Then/Turn Around, Look At Me
The Mamas and The Papas: Somebody Groovy/California Dreamin’
The Young Rascals: It’s Wonderful/Of Course
Lou Christie: Trapeze/Rhapsody In The Rain
Paul Revere and the Raiders: Kicks/Shake It Up
The Rolling Stones: I’m Free/Get Off Of My Cloud
The Hassles: 4 O’Clock In The Morning/Let Me Bring You To The Sunshine
The Turtles: Happy Together/Like The Seasons
The First Edition: Homemade Lies/But You Know I Love You
The 5th Dimension: Stoned Soul Picnic/The Sailboat Song
The Mamas and The Papas: I Saw Her Again/Even If I Could
Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs: Love Me Like Before/Lil’ Red Riding Hood
The Hollies: Signs That Will Never Change/Carrie-Anne
The Mindbenders: A Groovy Kind Of Love/Love Is Good
The Beach Boys: Let’s Go Away For A While/Good Vibrations
The Beatles: Please Please Me/From Me To You
The Beatles: What Goes On/Nowhere Man
The Beatles: Yesterday/Act Naturally
The Beatles: Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine
The Beatles: Baby You’re a Rich Man/All You Need Is Love
The Beatles: I Feel Fine/She’s A Woman
The Beatles: We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper
The Beatles: The Inner Light/Lady Madonna
The Beatles: I Don’t Want to Spoil The Party/Eight Days a Week
The Beatles: Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You

A 33 1/3:

Stevie Wonder: “A Something’s Extra” For “Songs In The Key of Life”

…and then three with kids’ songs, and two christmas ones including one that is only 5" across.


I don’t have a record player so I don’t know how well they play. Been in storage for at least 15 years, probably closer to 20-25 for some.

2

I don’t know of anything online offhand but I’ll scrounge around for you. There are published hard copy price guides and some record guides on-line. Perhaps if you could tell us what styles and how unusual the records are it would help. Records from the 60s and 70s range from nearly worthless to worth heaps depending on identity and condition. You’d need to be able to grade records roughly acording to the usual conventions but don’t worry too much about this as the professionals are often disgracefully tardy in this regard—for some sellers, every record is in mint condition. Also, a rather used record will still be valuable if it is playable and very rare. BTW, if you just take a bunch into a dealer’s shop and sell them as a job lot, you will not get anything like a fair price for them so it is worth doing a bit of research unless what you have are Presley soundtracks and Elton John records.

3

Beth, what about checking ebay and searching for some of the titles while also selecting “completed items.” This will give some indication of what they’ve been going for an ebay, although that’s only a small piece of the puzzle.

Jef

4

It’s a good place to start, but be careful to check on what is said about condition. But there is plenty of info on prices going around, it’s just that most of what I know about is in hard copy. As promised, I’ll check this out, and I’ll have a better idea now I know what the items are. (I have a large collection of old records and quite a few price guides.)

Beth, some of those would be defintely worth a bit I think because it really sounds like they are originals. If they are, find someone with a player, clean them properly with warm water and mild dishwashing detergent being careful not to damage the labels to determine condition. Singles without sleeves will be worth less but if they play reasoanbly well with just a few crackles and pops then you can ask somewhere near top dollar for them.

5

Here’s a site with lots of current English prices. I checked a couple out and you clearly have some stuff worth taking seriously.

http://www.musicstack.com/my/index.cgi?seller=5799

6

This site looks even better.

http://www.moremusic.co.uk/links/uk_res.htm#pric

7

Thanks Wombat, I appreciate the work. My next question - once I have an idea of how much they might be worth, how do I find buyers? I’ve got till September to unload them, though the sooner the better. And finding a record player to test them on might be out of the question - I don’t think anyone I know has one.

I never knew so many 45s could fit in a single hatbox…

8

Off hand, I think you might place an ad in Record Collector magazine, or something like it, with the records graded and priced. You’d need to clean and grade them for that of course. Easier would be to take them to a local record fair or swap meet. If you have a friend or group of friends with records they would like to sell you can share a stall and if you want to get rid of the ones that don’t sell easily you can drop prices dramatically at the end of the day. This would be the easiest way to do it, it doesn’t require grading, but remember that someone has to want that very record on that day, be present on the day and be prepared to pay your price and also that people go to record fairs looking for bargains and not fair prices.