advertisement


recording grading and record age

Rockmeister

pfm Member
Busy cleaning, cataloging, grading etc my collection. I'm a bit confused on a few fronts and looking for advice.

First, I am using Tony's list in the PFM record shop re record and sleeve condition, (and Discogs list is near identical), but am amazed to note that for sale on Discogs are literally hundreds of 60's and 70's LPs listed as 'Mint'; or 'Near Mint'. Now ok, the Vinyl might be if never played, but who owns a piece of cardboard that is now 60 years old and not discoloured or creased???? I even dug out two albums from 1970 that were still in their 'shrink wrap'; and even they had slight discolouration at the edges.

So question one, are these descriptions supposed to be read in light of the age of the recording? ie, OFC it's 60 years old, so will be discoloured but 'for it's age' it's perfect as you'll find?
Or are there lots of charlatans around ;)

My typical 'student played a lot records from the 60's / 70's' will be VG+ Vinyl and G or VG for the sleeve. And I was quite caring I thought hahaha.

Second point concerns value. Obvs a direct link to the 3 Discogs valuations (low/median/high) to condition, but is it possible to suggest how record descriptors match those three valuation levels? I was assuming that bad/poor would be below 'low' price, fair and good = low, vg and exc, somewhere about median and only Mint reaching the 'high' valuation, which itself must be affected by rarity and competition to buy. Is this right?

I'd quite like to post some pics at some point to illustrate this discussion if that would be useful?
Ta.
 
Last edited:
I think there's quite a lot of 'good condition for it's age' type grading going on!

I buy quite a lot of old jazz vinyl and some of what turns up graded at VG+ is really VG. If it's a real shocker I contact the seller. If it's just got a bit more surface noise and a few more clicks than a VG+ I can easily live with it.

The problem I guess is that so much complete junk gets (incorrectly) graded at VG that no one will buy actual VG records so VG+ gets used for everything from EX to not-quite-warped-enough-to-be-used-as-a-fruitbowl.

It sometimes pays to take a chance though. I recently picked up a bunch of blue label RVG Prestiges graded VG for £3 each. One was a duffer, the rest solid VG - nice loud cuts with a bit of surface noise. The seller had quite a few and I wish now I'd bought the lot!
 
So question one, are these descriptions supposed to be read in light of the age of the recording? ie, OFC it's 60 years old, so will be discoloured but 'for it's age' it's perfect as you'll find?

No, it is an absolute grade. M/M is perfect NOS grade regardless of age. Discolouration, storage marks, corner dings etc would knock even an unplayed sealed record down. I have some records older than I am that you’d swear came out manufacturers yesterday.

Second point concerns value. Obvs a direct link to the 3 Discogs valuations (low/median/high) to condition, but is it possible to suggest how record descriptors match those three valuation levels? I was assuming that bad/poor would be below 'low' price, fair and good = low, vg and exc, somewhere about median and only Mint reaching the 'high' valuation, which itself must be affected by rarity and competition to buy. Is this right?

The values are largely for entertainment purposes only. They are way out in every conceivable directions IMO, e.g. some of the really massive prices are for signed copies, though conversely some high values seem to be going to records I’d not want as they wouldn’t be in the condition I consider acceptable as a geeky audiophile. It is fascinating clicking through and actually viewing the recently sold items and their descriptions. A lot of good money is being spent on stuff I’d likely not pick out of a £1 bin, whereas other stuff is going a lot below what I could get for it. If you have high value titles you do need to study on a case by case basis to get a feel. Check Popsike.com too for closed eBay sales too.

Discogs is fascinating. I find it highly amusing watching how much my collection value fluctuates day to day, the max moving several £k quite often (currently £106,962.84, it was £109.760 a couple of days ago, and £105k something a few weeks back).
 
I have also been doing the same as the OP recently. I cleaned a first pressing of Seal's debut album the other day, that I considered would be near mint based on the last time I played it many years ago. I dropped it when flipping to put on side 1 and it caught the corner of my rack on the way down to the carpet. Now downgraded due to the 1" long scuff and resulting clicks!
 
Last edited:
I have also been doing the same as the OP recently. I cleaned a first pressing of Seal's debut album the other day, that I considered would be near mint based on the last time I played it many years ago. I dropped it when flipping to put on side 1 and it caught the corner or my rack on the way down to the carpet. Now downgraded due to the 1" long scuff and resulting clicks!
We’ve all done it. Commiserations.
 
So question one, are these descriptions supposed to be read in light of the age of the recording? ie, OFC it's 60 years old, so will be discoloured but 'for it's age' it's perfect as you'll find?

No - mint means mint.

(only things I grade as mint are sealed, no corner dings etc. No signs of wear.)


Second point concerns value. Obvs a direct link to the 3 Discogs valuations (low/median/high) to condition, but is it possible to suggest how record descriptors match those three valuation levels? I was assuming that bad/poor would be below 'low' price, fair and good = low, vg and exc, somewhere about median and only Mint reaching the 'high' valuation, which itself must be affected by rarity and competition to buy. Is this right?

Look at what has sold previously. Look at what is for sale currently.
Note what country things are being sold from - postage can add a lot to the total price.
*look at how many people are interested - Want that item*
Potentially for v expensive items, look at eBay sold items and see what Amazon is selling the exact copy for.
Decide how long you want to wait…
Price cheaply to sell quicker, given that more than 6 folks want it.

If after 6 months you have sold nothing, go through the lot and reduce prices accordingly, or wait and forget for a while.

Try and maintain 100% Seller rating.
 
Oh I'm not selling anything. This is cataloguing against the time when I kick up my heels and the solicitors want to send it to the local auction, where it will go for 10p an album no doubt. I just want to know, and discogs is a great way to make a catalogue. If the family don't want it I'll leave the lot to Tony's shop I expect, if anyone is still around by then :)
 
Last edited:
Busy cleaning, cataloging, grading etc my collection. I'm a bit confused on a few fronts and looking for advice.
I'd quite like to post some pics at some point to illustrate this discussion if that would be useful?
Ta.

Er, okay, but you do know the sun is shining?

Is this not a November-February type task when you're more focused by the fact you've only got a couple of hours of usable daylight? ;-)
 
Oh I'm not selling anything. This is cataloguing against the time when I kick up my heels and the solicitors want to send it to the local auction, where it will go for £10p an album no doubt. I just want to know, and discogs is a great way to make a catalogue. If the family don't want it I'll leave the lot to Tony's shop I expect, if anyone is still around by then :)

Arf!

I can symathise with that. I've already made reference with a couple of the younger generation not to remark 'Wow, Miles had a lot of wires...' before tossing the lot into a skip.

Several grand's worth of expensive yet distinctly non-blingy cables around the gaff, perhaps I should start adding big lumps of wood and gold-plated chunks of metal to them to underline the point...
 
sun out = gardening or dog walk
sun in = record cleaning or ?? (other activities, from, drinking, watching TV, cooking, etc)
Spring days are a nightmare, in, out, in, out,
and that's just the old girl
BOOM.
ho ho.
Seriously, I have it all laid out like an assembly line and have been at it all winter and still only done 180 of the B*****s!
 
Seriously, I have it all laid out like an assembly line and have been at it all winter and still only done 180 of the B*****s!

End of an era.

Not really going to happen for those wholly committed to squirting bits about the aether, is it?

NB. I stand ready to do something very crude with a warmed spoon to the first person to mention 'NFTs.'
 


advertisement


Back
Top