Goldmine Record Albums Price Guide (Goldmine Record Album Price Guide) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Tim Neely (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Goldmine Record Album Price Guide promises unmatched quality, quantity and accuracy for most genres of record collecting. In today's downloadable-digital world the vintage LP remains a popular collectible arena with a wealth of fans. The same fans that know and trust the expertise associated with Goldmine.

More than 50 years of collectible albums, from rock 'n' roll, R & B, country, rockabilly, doo-wop, surf, punk, jazz, comedy and classical are featured in this updated and expanded 4th edition. With more than 65,000 listings in up to three grade conditions, this comprehensive guide also gives collectors up-to-date checklist pricing for maintaining a precise inventory. Additional features include a record label identifier and a stunning 16-page full-color section.

-A 16-page special section, plus 200 black and white photos, guide collectors and dealers in assessing vintage albums

-More than 65,000 LP listings including the popular and the obscure to assist any type of collectors

-Current pricing information to maintain an updated collection --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author
Tim Neely is a freelance writer whose own record collection exceeds 20,000. He has witten several books. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 548 pages
• Publisher: Krause Pubns Inc; illustrated edition edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873417801
• ISBN-13: 978-0873417808
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #875,929 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for a price guide, but has very limited use., December 30, 2007

By	Meli (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goldmine Record Album Price Guide (Paperback)

When my mom died, she left behind around 400 LPs and another 150 45s from the 1950-1960s. It was a mess of mixed genres, variety of artists, and varying conditions. Since we're a fan of CDs and MP3 players, the records took up a horribly large amount of space and we wanted them gone. After calling a dealer, who suggested pulling out the Elvis and Beatle records and tossing the rest, I decided to do some research and see what I'd need to do to sell them on EBay. During my research, I found a record guild site with an incredibly helpful forum http://www.recordcollectorsguild.org They listed several price guides, but with warnings about their pricing accuracy. Until I tried to sell the records, I didn't fully realize how inaccurate they really are. While this book was not particularly valuable when it came to pricing, it was helpful in letting me know if I had any records that were worth pursuing. However, guides in general tend to have some problems and this one is no different. Some of the problems include:

1) Do NOT expect to get the list price. It is a best case scenario. The introduction to this book is very clear that these prices are mint condition prices. However, the amount suggested to deduct given their condition, is not accurate. The prices really reflect what you could expect to pay at an antique dealer's store, not what you can realistically expect to sell them for.

2) The price guides do not reflect a changing market. At one time, a mint version of Chantilly Lace might have brought 500.00, but not now. The interest in this record is not as great as it once was. However, the price guide is not updated to reflect that change in market. http://www.popsike.com better reflects the current market and it's free.

3) This book does not give you the knowledge you need to accurately grade records. Granted the purpose of this book is pricing, not to teach grading, but grading is integral to pricing. See, collectors want to listen to the records they're buying. So if the record pops or has any static, the record is of little to no value to them. If you're not an experienced collector, what looks minor to you, might be a huge deal to a buyer. Since the selling price of the record depends heavily on the condition of the vinyl, a book that doesn't give a proper education on condition is not too helpful for selling. Furthermore, this book suggested weighing the condition of the vinyl and jacket equally. That is not accurate. The condition of the vinyl is much more important than the jacket.

Again, where this book does excel is in having a large quantity of records, with a very good description to know which pressing you have, and is easy to use. So if you have a few records and you want to know if it's even worth the effort to try to sell them, this book is very helpful. However, if you're planning to use this book to sale, first see if you can get an experienced record collector to help you out. For us, two experienced collectors were able to accomplish in 3 hours, what would have taken me probably 500 hours to do.

Would I have bought this price guide again? Only if I couldn't find it at the local library. For a price guide, it's probably very good, but the main reason I wrote this review is so people won't get the idea they'll have all the information they need to sell in this book. You're really not going to be able to get the information you truly need to value records from this book or any price guide. So, you'd be better off saving your money and doing some research online.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goldmine Record Guide review, January 24, 2003

By	Thomas Miccolis "jhendrixfan" (Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Goldmine Record Album Price Guide (Paperback)

An invaluable, descriptive price guide on LPs. My #1 overall favorite! Very good for Jazz, rock and punk (obscure artists & bands). Provides three (3) prices based on condition as well. Much more definitive than Osborne's record guides but prices are not as "realistic" (averaged) as Jerry's. Only flaw is that Import and Bootleg LP information is VERY sparse - especially on Beatles, Hendrix, Jazz, and punk. Value of Beatles Vee-Jay "counterfeit's" should also be listed as some are not that terrible sounding. A truly great overall LP guide for most needs. Now if I could only find the same type of excellent price guide for Reel-to-Reel tapes........

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Goldmine Record Album Price guide 3rd Edition., March 2, 2005

By	Jeff Price (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Goldmine Record Album Price Guide: The Ultimate Guide to Valuing Your Vinyl (Paperback)

I like the book because as opposed to some other similar books it lists the album titles along with catalog numbers. The front of the book also has discriptions of different company's record labels and what they looked like over the years. Although I think there were some things left out in some of the label descriptions. It's still a great book for any record collector. I have seen other record books over the years and this one, Well is a keeper. Now all we need is a real good book to tell us record collectors what kind of inserts and posters came in each record.