Jimmy’s Black Vinyl Pension Fund…
One Saturday, as I walked out with maybe 20 or 30 LPs, the manager said to me ‘That’s your pension fund…’ His words struck a chord. Although I bought my records to love keep and cherish forever, the prospect of a day dawning sometime in the future when I’d be able to sell my collection and realise a handsome profit was enticing. That illusion was bolstered by the high collector prices vinyl still commanded during the ‘90s.
And now? Well, my Black Vinyl ‘Pension Fund’ has all but evaporated into a Black hole of Maxwellian proportions. Judging by the shops I visit now, it seems most LPs have little or no value. Okay, the genuine rarities and Audiophile Specials still command high prices. However, the great bulk of classical releases – your average Decca, EMI, Philips, and DG issues – are worth virtually nothing. It’s enough to make you weep…
Or is it? For those still buying, the positive side is that you can now add some extremely nice LPs to your collection for very little cost. I recently bought one of the 3LP boxed sets of Mozart’s symphonies with Christopher Hogwood on Decca/Florilegium in near mint condition for just £2 the set. At the same time I got the Prokofiev piano concertos with Vladimir Ashkenazy on Decca – again, 3LPs near mint for £2.
To be continued
