Cornwall Life – October 2019

Cornwall Life: August 2019Š 53

ANTIQUES

M

any of us will clearly

remember the days

when owning a copy

of the latest vinyl

music record was all the fashion –

everyone would rush out to go and

buy the new release from the likes

of The Beatles or Jimi Hendrix,

with these records representing

the height of modernity from the

1960s into the early 1980s.

This was all to change when

Philips and Sony began developing

the first compact discs in the

1970s; the vinyl record soon

became outdated and unpractical,

and in 1988 CD sales outnumbered

that of vinyl for the first time.

“The popularity of the vinyl record

declined so much that the majority

of pressing plants closed down,”

explains expert Tony Hesketh,

director of Phonostage Records

Ltd. Those born in the eighties

onwards would grow up in an era

of Walkmans and iPods, and today

even buying a CD is a rarity thanks

to the availability of music online.

However, recent years have

seen a renewed interest in the

vinyl record – by the end of 2016

sales had hit a 25-year high.

The generation who lived their

teenage years in the 60s and 70s

may be buying these records for

the sense of nostalgia, but there

is also a growing number of

younger buyers too with many

seeing vinyl as a novelty item.

“For the younger listener, there

may be the attraction of actually

owning something tangible from

your favourite artist, as opposed

to downloading or streaming,”

explains Grant Nicholas from

LoveAntiques.com. Tony Hesketh

adds that now we don’t have to

have music records, because we

have our phones and laptops to

play music instead, they can be

owned purely for the sake of fun

and investment. “Vinyl collecting

has become all about pleasure and

human traits and is nothing to do

with necessity anymore,” he says.

As with all antiques, the value

of an old music record can vary

considerably. The most expensive

records tend to be the rarest, or

the ones that have been signed or

owned by the artist themselves.

Original records by The Beatles

are consistently among the most

popular with collectors, and Ringo

Starr’s personal copy of White

Album recently sold at auction

for a staggering $790,000. Grant

adds that records by relatively

unknown artists can also be highly

valuable. “These are often sought

after by collectors, especially if the

music itself is good, or if one or

more members went on to greater

success later in their career.”

Most vinyl records will only

retain their value if they are in

good condition, so look for little

details such as whether the sleeve

and vinyl match up, and check for

any marks and scratches. If you

think you have a signed record it

may well be that accompanying

paperwork is needed, and study

the barcode to check the record

isn’t a re-issue.

It seems that vinyl records are

firmly ‘in fashion’ once again. This

means that now is as good a time

as ever to head up into the attic

and dig out your box of old music

records. Who knows, there could

be a valuable one-off edition

hidden somewhere in there. 

Find out more at

phonostage.co.uk and

loveantiques.com

Setting the

record straight

The arrival of the CD meant that the vinyl music record

became a thing of the past in the late 1980s - but today

we’re seeing its value and popularity surge once again

WORDS:Ellie Fells

BELOW FROM

LEFT: First UK

‘solid blue triangle’

copy of Dark

Side of the Moon

by Pink Floyd,

which is worth

up to £500; a

first pressing of

Axis: Bold as Love

by Jimi Hendrix,

which is worth up

to £400; Please,

Please Me by The

Beatles, which

sold for around

£340

Photo: Ivan Neru / Getty Images/iStockphoto