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Picture discs - Collectors items?

Hello...

I have an opportunity to buy a few dozen new, sealed picture discs - leftover inventory.

I have a few questions, please. I shall use the abbreviation PD to refer to them following.

Were PDs just a novelty and suitable only for memorabilia collectors? I realise that PDs were being released just at the beginning of the CD era.

Were PDs pressed from a superior grade of vinyl? I've seen them in different colours.

Does the colour of the PD vinyl make a difference in the sonic quality of the recording?

Were any PDs re-mastered at all? Again, this was at the time that CDs were being introduced and some recordings were re-mastered.

I am not looking to buy and then sell this stuff on eBay but to add to my collection.

Thanks and regards,

Jan
jsmoller
04rdking's avatar
04rdking
178 posts
 
05-30-08: Shadorne
I have the Boston first album picture disc......

I wouldn't admit that in public.......LOL
musicslug
430 posts
 
I once sold a set of all four Kiss solo LP picture discs for decent money...

one of my prized possessions is a picture disc of Parliament's 'Motor Booty Affair': side B has Bootsy Collins, wearing white fur chaps and a cowboy hat, holding a boom box on his shoulder, water-skiing on the backs of two dolphins. Boo-ya!

p.s.PDs all sound bad - I'm told it's because the depth of the vinyl is shallower. could be. they do sound terrible.
chadnliz's avatar
chadnliz
3,737 posts
 
I could think of a million other disc's more embarrasing then Boston's debut....they must have done something right because that album is in most all of our and 10 million other folks collections.
rives
953 posts
 
My favorite was Michael Jackson's Thriller PD. This was back when he had a big nose. Can't hardly see the resemblence to him now--surely that's got be worth something.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
It's like anything else. Some are desired, some aren't.
The easiest way to get an overall picture (te-he) of the market is to go to
eBay-->Music-->Records and search for "picture disc". Then check the completed auctions. You'll see that some go unbidded, a lot fetch around $10 plus shipping, and a few, by legendary artists or bands, may get $30-50. A double picture disc album by U2 went for $71 plus $6 shipping.

One could presume that a sealed copy might be worth more, but only if it's an artist and/or record that is desirable in the first place. I doubt that a sealed copy of a Leo Sayer or Jerry Vale picture disc would garner many bids.

OTOH, could you imagine if such a beast existed for Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue?"
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