Hard-To-find Vinyl- Lucky finds

Sebrof, What color is Muddy Waters 'Folk Skinger' label?
The original would have a black label with white letters. Some of the original releases would have blue label, but would need to know the serial number to be precise. Also it may have UPC code as well on jacket as there were more than one repress versions of your album.

Reissues of MW are fairly easy find.

As popular a thing as vinyl has become (again), it is a bit of a rare moment to have a lucky streak like that anymore. I guess, on the up side, it's great to be here in the(so called)rebirth of the format and see so many vinyl conscious consumers. Like many, many of you, I never abandoned it.

Full set of the "Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time" from Franklin Mint, unplayed/sealed (100 albums). Some great early recordings that's hard to find otherwise.

At an antique pavilion my stepson found an opened but possibly unplayed Japanese pressing of Pink Floyd's 'The Wall" for $10.

On eBay a woman was selling some private stock of her recently deceased father, a former DJ. I got several unplayed "for broadcast only" Verve pressings, such as the Ella (Fitzgerald) and Louis (Armstrong) duets, both volumes, plus some same-era Buddy Rich (I'm a big fan), and comedy albums of that era.

Not a big steal, but I got an early '70s Columbia reissue of "Kind of Blue" in NM condition for $8, and it rivals my Classic Records 200g reissue.

I got 18 box sets from Time-Life's "Great Men of Music" series at $1 ea. at a thrift shop. All were virtually or actually unplayed with 4 LPs per set. These were all reissues of Living Stereo recordings.

I've been focusing on pop and psych, early or odd pressings, mainly for
sonics, not collectibility, but some of these are fairly hard to find:
UK Vertigo Swirls - some of the more obscure ones:
Dr. Strangely Strange- Heavy Petting;
Gracious!
May Blitz- both titles- the 2nd of May is pretty rare
along with a number of others that are less rare; I cheated on Linda Hoyle
and bought a later Asian reissue of Pieces of Me, b/c the original is crazy
money if you can find one. (Even the Asian pressing was limited to 1,000
copies but the original UK was limited to 300).
Some nice WLPs: St. Dominic's Preview; Moondance; Dixie Chicken,
Alice's 'Love it to Death' on the Straight label;
a US W7 pressing of Astral Weeks;
a plum UK first with Peter Grant credit of
LZ III, along with minty early Plums of LZ II and IV;
a friend gave me a UK first black label Jeff Beck Truth- not nutty rare, but
sonically far more compelling than any other pressing of this 'Epic' record
(which was first pressed on EMI/Columbia);
a sealed package of Classic Clarity plus black vinyl of Tull's Aqualung,
totaling 8 records cut at 45rpm which, I believe, was an outgrowth of the
'samplers' Classic made for reviewers to compare the different vinyl
formulations , but in this case, of the entire album in both vinyl formulations;
A Claudia Cardinale of Blonde on Blonde;
a few nice old 6 Eyes, including 'The Sound of Jazz' from a guy in the
neighborhood;
an odd transcription of a radio program about Roy Harper, with Harper,
Page and Plant, Ian Anderson and a few others, from a street vendor in the
neighborhood;
a true UK first of Roy Harper's Stormcock (no EMI credit on label);
Earlier in the week, got to hear (but did not buy) a true first of both the
stereo and mono of Hoodoo Man Blues (with the 'friendly chap' credit).
Both were dead mint, but not for sale.
I've met some great sellers recently who supplied me with:
Ziggy/Spiders 6E/4E UK- dead mint;
Die Beatles Horzu -2;
a UK Vertigo Swirl '1970 Annual'- not exceedingly rare in itself, but contains
tracks from some albums that are quite rare; this 'sampler' is not easy to
find in mint condition;
on Knopfler, I picked up a minty UK Vertigo 'Spaceship' label of the first
Dire Straits album and found a Quiex copy of 'Love over Gold.'
I rarely buy classical any more b/c I have so many, unplayed, from buying
during the 80's- mainly RCA/Mercury/Lyrita/Decca/London/EMI ASD, etc.
but found a very nice Period pressing of Starker, Kodaly, Unaccompanied
Cello, that plays quietly, which is pretty unusual, I think. Most are beat up
for some reason, and expensive.