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
The Rolling Stones — Let It Bleed 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 Rolling Stones — Exile on Main St. first-press value.
What an original 1972 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 — Quadrophenia first-press value.
What an original 1973 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Black Sabbath — Paranoid 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
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — Déjà Vu 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
James Taylor — Sweet Baby James 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
Simon & Garfunkel — Bridge Over Troubled Water 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
Stevie Wonder — Innervisions first-press value.
What an original 1973 first-press is worth, how to tell it from reissues, and what pushes a clean copy to the top of its range.
Album value
Sly & the Family Stone — There's a Riot Goin' On 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
Funkadelic — Maggot Brain 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.