Does anyone still use or like vinyl?

[Dave2002]

You don’t always have to attend the actual sale. Go to the pre sale viewing, and then put in a written bid. Work out your own strategy - which might mean you don’t get the box, but then you can be smug and think that someone else has paid more than the box was worth to you. Just don’t put in ridiculously high values, or you’ll be the person paying over the odds.

Just thought I'd add a comment to the previous. I suspect that some collectors or dealers spot the "good" things in each box at auctions, then if they are successful they extract those and then top up the boxes again with the usual kind of dross, and put them back into another auction. Whether that's really worth doing I'm not sure, though I've considered it. If you can get a box (say) for around £80-90, then extract a couple of items worth say £20-£40 to you (or more if you can find a buyer to sell them on, then put your unwanted CDs or LPs back into the box and put it back into another auction you might hit lucky and get £60-£80 back. So with luck you might just about break even, but get some rare items you really fancy, and clear out some of your "junk" at the same time. In the worst case the auctioneer may sell off your box at a real cut down price, or not sell, in which case you'll get it back. I guess sometimes there is an item in a box at auction which someone really values, or thinks they can sell on for a substantial profit. I have bid on boxes [of CDs] and when I queried what the box went for [typically £80] the auction house office staff told me that the winning bidder was really pleased as the box had somthing he particularly wanted. One merit of putting a bundle of items together is that you may think you know what the high value items are, but other people may have differing views, for all sorts of reasons. What you think of as junk might just happen to be something that another person really wants.

Needless to say the auction house always makes a profit, even if small.

[gradus]

Around here boxes of LPs unsorted often go for a few pounds.

[teamsaint]

Well if the vinyl revival is really hipster led, this should certainly put paid to it. Don’t think I’ll be popping in to browse any time soon.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/14/sound-investment-john-lewis-teams-up-with-rough-trade-to-sell-vinyl

I’m tempted to trim a small number of the more valuable items ( all punk and post punk type stuff) from my collection while we are at peak values for that kind of stuff, as I have either duplicated it or am not that worried about . But the collection as a whole isn’t going anywhere.

The depth of the vinyl revival is clear from the large number of adverts for turntables at Richer Sounds etc.


It has to be said that flicking through boxes of vinyl at record fairs etc does turn up items of interest that can’t be had on CD, or are much cheaper on vinyl, or in fact one never knew about !

[Roger Webb]

Well if the vinyl revival is really hipster led, this should certainly put paid to it. Don’t think I’ll be popping in to browse any time soon.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/14/sound-investment-john-lewis-teams-up-with-rough-trade-to-sell-vinyl

I’m tempted to trim a small number of the more valuable items ( all punk and post punk type stuff) from my collection while we are at peak values for that kind of stuff, as I have either duplicated it or am not that worried about . But the collection as a whole isn’t going anywhere.

The depth of the vinyl revival is clear from the large number of adverts for turntables at Richer Sounds etc.


It has to be said that flicking through boxes of vinyl at record fairs etc does turn up items of interest that can’t be had on CD, or are much cheaper on vinyl, or in fact one never knew about !

I have about 36 feet of Lp shelf since moving to a small cottage - although blest with a music room which contains 12 feet of the LPs and all c. 90 feet of CD shelving....my music books take up the other wall!

Before moving from my previous house I chopped my LPs down by about a quarter. I still play mine daily - yesterday Mendelssohn 'Scottish' Abbado; 'Ein Heldenleben' Karajan; Holst SRCS 34 and Berkeley SRCS 74......(after answering a new post on YouTube about Lyrita), today I've lined up for starters Stravinsky EL 749 786 1.

[Roger Webb]

Forgot my wax cylinder collection....I have a 'Graphophone' (identical to the 'Edison') in the dining room!

[hmvman]

Forgot my wax cylinder collection....I have a 'Graphophone' (identical to the 'Edison') in the dining room!

Glad I'm not the only one, Roger! My cylinder collection is small but enjoyable to play on my Edison 'Fireside'. Your Graphophone -especially the banner name - is splendid!

[Roger Webb]

Glad I'm not the only one, Roger! My cylinder collection is small but enjoyable to play on my Edison 'Fireside'. Your Graphophone -especially the banner name - is splendid!

Unfortunately the Graphophone no longer works...after allowing my young niece and nephew to play with it. It could be fixed but....

A lot of people don't know that when Edison ran into financial trouble the Graphophone Co. bought the rights to the manufacture of the Edison players.

The famous Francis Barraud 'Nipper' HMV painting was sent out to dealers for their centenary - Barraud painted it only 50 yards from my first shop in Bristol....so it was coming home really!

BTW there is an interesting story behind the edition of the Nipper you see in the photo. A sculptor friend in Bath got hold of an original in perfect nick (very rare now) and made a mold of it. He made a small run of them and gave one to me for my window display in my record shop. He also sent one to the EMI CEO asking if they would like some, the CEO promptly wrote back saying that the original was a protected trademark, and if he sold any EMI would have to instruct their solicitors. Why does industry behave in such a self-destructive way?! An amusing aside is that the CEO added that this Nipper looked nothing like the real thing - the sculptor kept the letter in case of court action!!!

No wonder an industry joke said that EMI stood for Every Mistake Imaginable!

[teamsaint]

It has to be said that can vinyl make a much more impactful present than a CD . My son took a punt on a live album by the Fall for my birthday. Perfect present. I wouldn’t have bought it for myself,but a great addition to my collection.
other good recent puchases were a desperately indulgent box set of all of Magazine’s studio albums ( Post Punk royalty, for those not well versed in such matters) and a John Dankworth album .

Suggestions for good classical vinyl purchases ( EG stuff not easily available on CD ) welcome.
I fancy some Mahler double albums on vinyl, for a bit of fun. I also fancy the 6 album box sets of the DG Avant Garde series , but they require meaningful cash……

[hmvman]

Unfortunately the Graphophone no longer works...after allowing my young niece and nephew to play with it. It could be fixed but....

A lot of people don't know that when Edison ran into financial trouble the Graphophone Co. bought the rights to the manufacture of the Edison players.

The famous Francis Barraud 'Nipper' HMV painting was sent out to dealers for their centenary - Barraud painted it only 50 yards from my first shop in Bristol....so it was coming home really!

BTW there is an interesting story behind the edition of the Nipper you see in the photo. A sculptor friend in Bath got hold of an original in perfect nick (very rare now) and made a mold of it. He made a small run of them and gave one to me for my window display in my record shop. He also sent one to the EMI CEO asking if they would like some, the CEO promptly wrote back saying that the original was a protected trademark, and if he sold any EMI would have to instruct their solicitors. Why does industry behave in such a self-destructive way?! An amusing aside is that the CEO added that this Nipper looked nothing like the real thing - the sculptor kept the letter in case of court action!!!

No wonder an industry joke said that EMI stood for Every Mistake Imaginable!

Do get it fixed, it's probably nothing too serious. If I lived in your area I'd be happy to have a look at it for you but from York it's a bit of a trek! If you need help I might be able to find out someone in your area who can do it.

When you say Graphophone (Columbia) had the rights to Edison machines, are you confusing them with J E Hough's Edison Bell company?

I seem to recall that there's some link between Nipper, Barraud and my birth town of Kingston-Upon-Thames. I'll have to look it up sometime.

[Roger Webb]

Do get it fixed, it's probably nothing too serious. If I lived in your area I'd be happy to have a look at it for you but from York it's a bit of a trek! If you need help I might be able to find out someone in your area who can do it.

When you say Graphophone (Columbia) had the rights to Edison machines, are you confusing them with J E Hough's Edison Bell company?

I seem to recall that there's some link between Nipper, Barraud and my birth town of Kingston-Upon-Thames. I'll have to look it up sometime.

Well that's very kind....if we take up Pulcinella's invitation to visit him I may do that - Pulcinella worked in that record shop near Barraud's studio, which now has a plaque and Nipper over the doorway (Barraud's studio not my record shop!)

Your second point may be correct, I haven't really researched it...but in the back of my mind I thought that Graphophone took over production from Edison, as it were.

[smittims]

My 'old vinyl' searches recently have led me to suspect that a dealer is going around buying up charity shop stock and storing it against a rise in prices. Several shops I used to visit, finding large stocks of classical vinyl at £2 - £3 each, now have few or none. More than once I've been told ' chap came in here last week and spent £200'.

[gradus]

An interesting R4 programme on the Pop Flexidisc. I had no idea that they are collectable and can attract four figure sums if rare. I can't recall classical repertoire appearing in this medium, only free CDs of excerpts from the latest releases and I still have a few of these.

[smittims]

I have a 45rpm 7" flexidisc given away with Reader's Digest to advertise their records. It's presented by our old friend Eric Robinson .

[hmvman]

I have a 45rpm 7" flexidisc given away with Reader's Digest to advertise their records. It's presented by our old friend Eric Robinson .

My parents had that disc too but unfortunately it's been long-gone. I've got some 78rpm flexi records but they're some other material than vinyl.

[oliver sudden]

It has to be said that can vinyl make a much more impactful present than a CD . My son took a punt on a live album by the Fall for my birthday. Perfect present. I wouldn’t have bought it for myself,but a great addition to my collection.
other good recent puchases were a desperately indulgent box set of all of Magazine’s studio albums ( Post Punk royalty, for those not well versed in such matters) and a John Dankworth album .

Suggestions for good classical vinyl purchases ( EG stuff not easily available on CD ) welcome.
I fancy some Mahler double albums on vinyl, for a bit of fun. I also fancy the 6 album box sets of the DG Avant Garde series , but they require meaningful cash……

Since you mention John Dankworth, how about Cleo Laine’s Pierrot lunaire? Very special indeed. Don’t think it ever made it to CD.

There are various single LPs from that DG avant garde series out there I think? At least there were fairly recently. Not too steeply priced.

One of my favourite Mahler LPs is the VPO/Abbado 9. If that comes up affordably it’s very much worth considering! The BPO/Barbirolli 9 likewise.

I will quite often get things on LP that I have on CD. Especially if the LPs are known to be good examples of their kind and the CDs are a bit on the early side, since some of those were pretty harshly mastered. (Randomly thinking of the Solti Salome, for example.) For me it’s nice to compare such things just to be sure it really is worth sticking with this LP lark. So far so good.