Music
15 incredibly expensive vinyl records on eBay
by Mark Teo
August 21, 2013
You know what they say about collectors, right? They got big… uh, collections. And are willing to pay premiums for that elusive missing piece. That rationale applies to record collectors, too, who are willing to pay insane premiums on records like Judge’s Chung King. The result is, on eBay, certain records will hit asking prices that are insane to any normies—like these records by Beck, Radiohead, Pavement and more.
What is is: A Canadian version of this surf-rock LP by the Ventures.
The price: $15,650.
What else you could buy for that price: A Lindsay Lohan-sized amount of cocaine and ecstasy.
What is is: The 1958 breakthrough for rock ‘n’ roll forerunner Ricky Nelson.
The price: $19,700.
What else you could buy for that price: A single year of Obamacare for a needy family.
What it is: An LP demonstrating America’s gospel traditions.
The price: $20,000.
What else you could buy for that price: A needlessly expensive LG TV.
What it is: A Finnish first-wave punk 7-inch by a band called Neuroosi. It’s also an argument that first-wave punk fetishizers are this generation’s answer to blues dads.
The price: $20,000 or best offers. With free shipping!
What else you could buy for that price: 20,000 tins of cocktail weenies from a Dollarama.
What it is: A rejected test acetate of the Grateful Dead’s first LP.
The price: $25,000. Surprisingly, it’s not the priciest Dead ware on eBay—a Ken Kesey poster will cost you a mere $70k. This acetate’s chump change.
What else you could buy for that price: A once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Beyonce.
What it is: Yet another acetate, only for a Roy Orbison 45 with “Ooby Dooby” on it.
The price: $25,000.
What else you could buy for that price: A brand-new 2013 Buick Encore.
What it is: An LP, which was part of a Time-Life series documenting American socio-cultural history. On a scale of 1-10, how racist do you think this is? 11?
The price: $34,975. A steal, considering this LP’s commanded an asking price of $900,000 before. BUY NOW THINK LATER.
What else you could buy for that price: A year’s worth of work of an entry-level personal assistant.
What it is: A sealed rare (we assume first-pressing) edition of Introducing The Beatles.
The price: $35,000. Which is $25k shy of a Paul McCartney-signed Telecaster, which will surely be scooped up by like, the Hard Rock Cafe in Billings, Montana.
What else you could buy for that price: My hand in marriage.
What it is: A test-press of Pavement’s Westing.
The price: $5,000.
What else you could buy for that price: A year of tuition at McGill University.
What it is: A white test press of Nirvana’s Bleach from Tupelo Records, who cut the album in the U.K.
The price: $6,000, only $1,000 more than a iceberg-coloured version pressing of this record.
What else you could buy for that price: One month’s rent at a San Francisco apartment that has a pizza oven.
What it is: A test press of “My Kind of Soldier,” a single by Guided By Voices from 2003’s Earthquake Glue.
The price: $6,000.
What else you could buy for that price: A curious wooden fixed-gear bicycle.
What it is: A blue, signed copy of Beck’s “MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack,” one of his first singles. Note: The Jesus fish.
The price: $10,000.
What else you could buy for that price: Roughly 3 per cent of an endangered rhino’s horn, which, when ground up, is touted as nature’s boner-maker, a cocaine-style party drug, and a hangover cure-all.
What it is: A test pressing of a Sophisticates LP, who were Northern Soul mainstays.
The price: $10,000.
What else you could buy for that price: A gross-looking hooded sweatshirt, encrusted with Swarovski diamonds.
What it is: Well, to be fair, it isn’t a record. On a Friday was Radiohead before they were called Radiohead, so this is one of Radiohead’s earliest tapes—it’s a demo, to be precise.
The price: $15,000. Or, for a package deal, pick up four demo tapes for a cool $50,000.
What else you could buy for that price: If you’re a monarch, it’ll buy you a royal birth.
What it is: A signed copy of Michael Jackson’s 1972 solo debut, Got To Be There.
The price: $125,000
What else you could buy for that price: A log cabin in Dixonville, AB.
Tags: Music, News, Beck, ebay, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Pavement, Radiohead, The Beatles
