I doubt I’ve spent more than 5 or 6 hundred US on a single record. Those have typically been records that claim a market value of over 1k US dollars for a mint example. I’ve largely quit buying such expensive records since I’m not really buying them to collect but to play, as the best sonic examples of a particular release.
I don’t even like handling such expensive records anymore--
I have tons of audiophile banalities that are probably worth money, but I’m too lazy to sell them-- you can only get an approximation of so-called market by putting them up for retail sale; sales or trades to dealers or collectors are usually at a considerable discount (unless the party seeking the copy really has to have it for some reason).
I have, on the other hand, scored on occasion-- a never played copy of a rare Italian prog album landed in my lap for the cost of a cheap, used reissue.
I only have one record that is on my list right now that I’d even consider spending that kind of money on-- and when I was approached by a dealer who had one last year, I declined to buy it- partly b/c it was priced at very high market and the seller was unwilling to consider any trades.
I think you’d be shocked by the prices collectors sometimes pay-- and these are often for records that aren’t necessarily for playing-- simply rare. Private label pressings where the tapes are gone; obscurities where few were pressed initially. Unfortunately, some of the records I’ve chased overlap with the collector’s market.
The biggest challenge in that market, for me, is condition since I do play them, I’m after so-called ’M-’ graded records. And given the state of record grading --even played graded-- being all over the place, some of these records are virtually impossible to find in that condition. (The "condition" problem exists even in less rarified circles-- in some cases, I have purchased many copies of the same pressing to get one that is truly a clean, unmolested player. And sometimes, those wind up being far from the most expensive copies. Let’s say you buy a 30 dollar record from the UK that is supposedly in M- condition. Shipping is another 15 bucks US, maybe more. And it isn’t mint- or anything close to it. Is it worth spending 15 bucks to ship it back? Do that 4 times for a particular record and you’ve got well over a hundred dollars into something that should cost far less. That’s a grading/condition problem and something that is hard to come to grips with in the market place.
Some of the old obscurities or hard to find records do get reissued, but it is rarely from the tape even if that still exists (in many cases, it doesn’t). The audiophile reissue houses usually don’t take risks on records that aren’t sure sellers. So, you are relegated to buying original pressings, perhaps ex-country of origin to get in more cheaply, or reissues which are not necessarily the best representations of the album.
I’ve become more agnostic about reissues of old analog records sourced from digital masters. Some are good. And they are far cheaper.
None of these things are investments at today’s prices. Buy ’em if you really care about the music, not because of their purported market value.
