Do you have a vintage vinyl collection? When was the last time you played them? If they've just been sitting in boxes in your basement or attic and collecting dust, it might be time to bring them out because some of them could be worth way more than their original sticker price.
"Items that were cherished by the demographic which grew up in the '60s and '70s is at its peak currently, with items like Pyrex, rock LPs, modern furniture, toys, etc."”all of which are in high demand," John Neiheisel, Art & Antique Specialist at EVERYTHING BUT THE HOUSE (EBTH), told CountryLiving.com.
If you were an avid collector of vinyls from some of the most iconic artists and bands then you could be sitting on a gold mine.
"Rock albums are all over the place, but The Beatles is always highest," Neiheisel explains. Records released by artists like "The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Michael Jackson, etc.," can also help you earn big cash, especially if they're an original.
Here are 10 vintage vinyl records that can bring you some serious cash:
1. The Beatles, Yesterday and Today
The original "butcher" cover from 1966 was recalled by Capitol Records after the public found it to be of poor taste. At the time of the recall, 750,000 copies had already been shipped to stores, which means that a few fans managed to get their hands on it. Today, the copies with the original cover are worth between $20,000-$45,000.
2. The Beatles, The Beatles (White Album)
The iconic band's self-titled double album was released in 1968 and some of the earliest copies were stamped with serial numbers that started with A00000. If your copy has a low serial number then you could be sitting on a small fortune. In 2013, the very first copy sold for $35,000 and in 2014, a copy with the serial number A0000023 was auctioned off for $13,750.
3. Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Four tracks on Dylan's 1963 release were replaced with newly recorded songs, but during the pressing process a number of copies were accidentally created with the old version of the songs. These original stereo copies of Freewheelin make the album one of the rarest and most valuable records in the world. A copy has once been sold for $35,000. You have an original copy if the matrix number ends in -1A and plays these four songs: Rocks and Gravel/Let Me Die In My Footsteps/Gamblin' Willie's Dead Man's Hand/Talkin' John Birch Blues.
4. Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568
Less than 1,000 copies of Mobley's jazz record were released in 1957, and among them are a few that have a small change that makes them much more valuable. Apparently, Blue Note Records ran out of labels during pressing, so the rare copies with the original mono pressing were labelled with "47 West 63rd NYC" on side 1 and the rare "47 West 63rd New York 23" on side 2. If you have the record with the special label, it could be worth upwards of $10,000.
5. The Rolling Stones, Street Fighting Man
The original cover of the record caused some controversy upon its release in 1968, so the sleeves were withdrawn shortly after. There are still ten to 18 copies that didn't make their way back to the label, and in 2011 one of them sold for $17,000, according to Bonhams. If you have this rare Rolling Stones memorabilia, it's time to dust it off and make some serious cash.
If you don't own any of these albums, don't worry, there are more records on this list.
6. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin
Most people are familiar with the orange cover of Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut, but did you know that there was an earlier version that looked different? The iconic album featured the famous Hindenburg airship disaster on its original sleeve with the band name and Atlantic logo in Turquoise. Later that year, the color was switched to orange, and the turquoise-printed sleeve became a collector's item. These days a copy of the album with the aqua lettering can cost from $3,000-$5,000.
7. David Bowie, Diamond Dogs
Bowie's 1974 release had to be taken off the shelves to correct the artwork because the original version featured a dog's genitals. Some RCA employees kept some of the non-airbrushed copies, and back in 2003, one was sold on eBay for $3,550. The record's value has gone up since Bowie's passing and could probably sell for up to $5,000.
8. Roland Kirk, Triple Threat
The jazz multi-instrumentalist's 1956 album was largely unknown until a few years prior to his death. The record is very rare as it was a limited release and featured a self-invented technique that was unheard of before Kirk's debut, which makes it worth between $1,000- $5,000 today.
9. Prince, The Black Album
Also known as The Funk Bible, Prince's sixteenth album had no title or credited artist when it was released in 1987. Despite sending promotional copies to DJs and clubs, Prince shelved the album a week before its nationwide release. The promo copies were recalled and scheduled to be destroyed, but there were a few that ended up being saved until its official release in 1994. One of these extremely rare copies of The Black Album was sold in 2016 for $15,000 after the singer's death. It was the most expensive record ever sold on Discogs, an online vinyl reseller.
10. Elvis Presley, Speedway
Promotional copies of the King of Rock and Roll's 1968 album, Speedway, were released as mono LPs during a time when this type of format was virtually extinct. Only a few hundred mono copies exist, the rest were all issued in stereo. Today, the rare mono editions are valued at $1,000 to $3,000.
Do you own any of these records? Let us know in the comments!