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
Cream — Disraeli Gears first-press value.
What an original 1967 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
The Who — Tommy first-press value.
What an original 1969 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
The Velvet Underground — Loaded first-press value.
What an original 1970 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run 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
Joni Mitchell — Blue first-press value.
What an original 1971 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Neil Young — After the Gold Rush first-press value.
What an original 1970 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
John Coltrane — A Love Supreme first-press value.
What an original 1965 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Miles Davis — Bitches Brew first-press value.
What an original 1970 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Charles Mingus — Mingus Ah Um first-press value.
What an original 1959 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Dave Brubeck Quartet — Time Out first-press value.
What an original 1959 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.