I have, in my time been a collector of rare records but
a couple of years ago I sold my collection. I had original
pressings of Mellow Candle's "Swaddling Songs", Red Dirt's
album "Red Dirt" and many others. There were perhaps
a thousand LP's in all and I sold the lot for 800 euros. The
Mellow Candle was a factory test pressing and it would
cost me anything from £1,000 or more just to buy that
one album again.
I got rid of them because I needed the money and they
were taking up too much space in my flat. I used to
pick up quite scarce LP's in my travels around charity shops
and car boot sales but the 'good old days' of the charity
shops has gone or at least here in Ireland they have gone.
I still do the rounds of those shops but more out of habit
than anything else.
The first 'find' I ever had was at a street market. It was
an early morning market which meant going there at
one or two in the morning and rooting around in between
brick-a-brack and general rubbish. The album was "Genesis"
by a group called The Gods. I had never heard of them and
it was so dark I could not even make out the cover beyond
the fact that it was one of the older laminated sort.
I think I paid 50 cents for it. It's a wonderfull record and
worth buying if you are ever offered a copy of it.
But most people now seem to collect them only because the albums
are rare and not because they are in love with the music.
And they never actually play them as that might cause them
to be devalued.