You can be a vinyl collector at any income, but for most of the world the collector’s market of the super rich is far out of reach. For the every day vinyl enthusiast, the best you can do is gawk at the six figure sums that some of the world’s most infamous records attract.
Thanks to Love Antiques and Phil Barton, owner of Sister Ray Records, a recent compilation of the most expensive vinyl records in the world has emerged.
This is as rare as it gets: the list of the world’s 20 most valuable vinyl records is any prospective collector’s wet dream.
The most common thread in the list is undoubtedly the rarity of these records. At #6, The Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen was only printed 300 times before they were kicked off their label for bad behaviour.
The Quarrymen clock in at #2, the 1958 original record thought to be the only living copy of the pre-Beatles LP. The Fab Four appear another three times in the list, including the top spot for Ringo’s personal copy of The Beatles – the first pressing of their famous White Album.
Keep in mind these numbers are in pounds:
1. The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album) originally owned by Ringo Starr – £730,876.
2. The Quarrymen – That’ll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger – £100,000
3. The Beatles – Love Me Do – £80,500
4. Jean Michel Jarre – Music For Supermarkets – £10,000 – £30,000
5. Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) – £25,000
6. Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen – £12,000
7. Billy Nicholls – Would You Believe – £10,000
8. The Beatles – Please Please Me – £7,500
9. Robert Johnson – Kind Hearted Woman Blues – £7,000
10. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody/I’m In Love With My Car – £5,000
11. U2 – Pride (In The Name Of Love) – £5,000
12. John’s Children – Midsummer Night’s Scene/Sara Crazy Child – £4,000
13. Ron Hargrave – Latch On/Only A Daydream – £3,000
14. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin – £3,000
15. The Beatles – Love Me Do/PS I Love You – £3,000
16. David Bowie- Space Oddity/Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – £3,000
17. Tinkerbells Fairydust – Tinkerbells Fairydust – £3,000
18. Madonna – Erotica – £2,000
19. Wings – Love is Strange – £1,500 – £2,000
20. Tudors Lodges – Tudor Lodge – £1,200
When Happy Mag took a list of some of the most expensive vinyl records around, we found an even more valuable record than Ringo’s. The only copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin was sold to Martin Shkreli for $2 million recently, making it the priciest record in existence.
Why Barton left this record off his list in unknown. Maybe he agrees with most of the world that Shkreli is an unrivalled fuckface who makes a living profiteering off human suffering. Maybe he just hadn’t heard about the record. The likely reason is that the chances of Shkreli ever selling the record are immeasurably slim.
Via LoveAntiques.
