Guides
For vinyl collectors.
Practical answers to the questions collectors ask before, during, and after building a catalog. New guides added as the questions come up.
Looking up a specific record?
Browse 40 album value guides.
First-press labels, catalog numbers, matrix clues, and value ranges by condition.
Comparing more than one album?
Browse vinyl values by artist.
Put collectible originals side by side and see which labels, matrices, and inserts move each record's value.
Starting with the center label?
Identify four classic pressing-label families.
Visual markers, rim text, catalog prefixes, plant clues, and records that use each design.
Staring at the dead wax?
Decode 20 matrix and runout marks.
Matrix prefixes, mastering signatures, plant codes, and the symbols that look like scratches until you know what they mean.
Album value
Aerosmith — Get Your Wings first-press value.
What an original 1974 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Queen — Queen II first-press value.
What an original 1974 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Queen — A Night at the Opera first-press value.
What an original 1975 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Queen — News of the World first-press value.
What an original 1977 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Van Halen — Van Halen first-press value.
What an original 1978 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Van Halen — Fair Warning first-press value.
What an original 1981 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Van Halen — 1984 first-press value.
What an original 1984 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Travis Tritt — It's All About to Change first-press value.
What an original 1991 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Travis Tritt — Country Club first-press value.
What an original 1990 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Keith Whitley — I Wonder Do You Think of Me first-press value.
What an original 1989 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.