What's Worth More on the Open Market - Your Records or Your Audio Gear

If I value LPs and CDs at $5 per item (probably optimistic), I come up with $35,000.  That is a little bit more than the value of the midrange drivers in my speakers, so I am way into the gear side.

Actually a rare records cost a lot, a typical value for a rare Soul 45s is $100-300 each and it is only a middle price, some cost way over thousands for a single 7 inch. Some of them were $1-5 in the 90’s set sale lists, but with the internet auctions prices for rare stuff only goes up every year. Since the majority of them pressed only in small quantities on independent labels in the 60s/70s they are hard to find indeed. And the records that only exists in a handful of copies cost many thousand dollars. Sales statistic available for everyone on popsike.com for all genres of music.

Top quality vintage audio gear also not getting cheaper, but the price for a nice cartridges and stuff is pretty much like a price for a single rare record.

Anyway there are still plenty of cheap gear and cheap records.

The price for a record depends on it’s rarity. Record collectors are ready to pay over $1k for a record than for audio equipment and they don’t believe they are able to hear a difference between the cheap and expensive cartridges. But the rare record (original press only) is a collectible item and music is universal language.

A price for a very rare record does not affected even if there is a re-issue available for $20, collector does not care about re-issues at all, only originals. Just like art, nobody cares about digital re-prints, original can cost a million dollars. 

This thread reminds me of just another good reason to have record storage like the Per Madsen, which I have. Easy to move/around.

bdp24
Don’t think I haven’t considered that scenario Chris! The top left cube contains (amongst others) The Animals, The Band, Count Basie, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, T Bone Burnett, The Byrds, Johnny and Rosanne Cash, Carlene Carter, Patsy Cline, Ry Cooder albums. The one under it Rodney Crowell, Dylan, Dave Edmunds, The Everly Brothers, The Flamin’ Groovies, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Dan Hicks, Chris Hillman.
Cube 1 or 2 is like choosing between your two kids!

Damn.... very impressive Eric.
Well, as someone whose business career involved disaster recovery, business continuity; I am embarrassed to admit, that I am ill prepared "in mind" of what to grab. As of right now.

Do you see Larry5729.....Do you see what all that damn music streaming does to one’s mind ?

In this type of event - I am probably trying to catch our Savannah Cat - good luck to me with that unless she’s asleep. She does like it hot though and sleeps on the satellite receiver.

I am trying to picture Slaw frantically wheeling out those Per Madsen massive record storage columns on wheels.... onto the street. He must have a walk out.