Starker’s Bach cello suites on Mercury LP is probably the most valuable record I own, although it is in pretty poor shape (warped and scratched from too little care when I was a lot younger!).
Promos are kind of cool in general. They’re a bit rarer, and theoretically they are closer to the sound of the master tape since they are early pressings. I don’t seek out promos, but if there’s one in good shape at a reasonable price, I’ll snatch it up. With Lumpy Gravy, I really just wanted a regular stereo copy, but my local shop had the mono promo one day (for more money, of course), and I decided to get it.
I guess you already won the contest hands down 
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If this meets any of the criteria, it will be by a millimeter.
I’m fuzzy as to where I acquired this promo CD.
I’m somewhat certain it was during a concert intermission In the symphony’s store. I think there was a small stack at checkout. It was definitely free.
The content isn’t overly interesting but I really like the warning on the front of the sleeve.
It’s about an hour of music and interviews. I never heard it on a UAL flight.
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I find the value in thread in learning if others rare or obscure recording holdings.
This isn’t particularly valuable but it is rather obscure. I was bonkers for European sports car racing when I was a kid and my parents somehow found this album from 1961 for my 8th birthday. It’s a double album of recordings of notable Benz sports racing automobiles.
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Mine are a little more modern, but both rare in this condition.
I have a NM copy of the 28 Days Later soundtrack from 2003, they didn’t produce many and it’s never been repressed, has a comic strip on the record insert sleeves by an artist called Glyn Dillon.
It came with a full movie poster as well which mine is fully intact as new
Then also, my copy of LemonJelly’s KY from 2000, again, they only produced 1000 copies, and most have been shredded by DJ’s. A really uplifting downtempo album of quite eclectic electronic music. But the cover art has become quite infamous as a piece of art in its own right, with die cut parts that only show when you remove the inners. I managed to find this still sealed in 2017, I doubt you’ll find another one like this, and the price would be over £1k if you did, I paid a 10th of that.
Then as a piece of musical history, these are by no means rare, because the recording is very raw and low quality, but it’s a staggering piece of history from one of the worlds leading Blues artists. Leadbelly’s Last Sessions Parts 2 and 3 (still on the hunt for part one). These were box sets released in 1953 and '62. They were all taken from a single session Recorded over 3 nights in September/October 1948 in the NYC apartment of Frederic Ramsey Jr. Apart for a few minor edits, the 3 volumes are unedited and raw as you like, you can hear Leadbelly and the crew talking along, the crew asking him about what the songs meant to him and what was happening in his life when he wrote them.
What sets these apart is that they were both still MINT, picked them up about 6 months ago from a US seller who’s father had inherited his grandfathers collection and wasn’t interested in vinyl, then his son wasn’t either so offloaded them. I know these were mint as they had a printed paper seal that was still intact.
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I like that you unsealed the lemon jelly - records are meant to be enjoyed, not used as investments 
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Amen to that. Whenever I buy something obscure, it’s not for monetary value, but to own a precious token and reminder of a bygone era. That’s why I couldn’t do it as a business, I’m too emotionally invested. I play them, and try not to screw them up by scratching them up or dropping them on the floor! Old vinyl is just great. When I smell that musty-ass moldy smell from a vintage cardboard record jacket, I’m in heaven!
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And it being rarer just made ripping open the shrink that much more satisfying, I knew I was destroying it’s potential value, but didn’t slow me down, had it on the platter within a matter of minutes.
I’m very much the same, I couldn’t buy just to collect, it’s all about playing for me, the enjoyment of playing a record is what I’m after, the fact they may be rare just increases my appreciation of being able to play it.
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@SpyderTracks I like your philosophy - value (non-monetary) actually increased by opening, listening to and looking at the media.
I’m not criticizing the three copy philosophy either as it certainly has merit:
- One to play
- One to display
- One just in case (safety)
The 28 Days Later poster is ultra cool, by the way.
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Can’t attest to its rarity or obscurity for that matter. The music is quite fine, but the release format is a bit of an odd duck, as it is a single sided flexi-disc included with a 33-1/3 LP in a sandpaper coated outer sleeve.
I should add the following:
1980’s Durutti Column The Return of the Durutti Column.
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In unplayable condition but I just can’t throw this one away.
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Factory Records were always a bit odd ball…
…but Tony Wilson did a lot of good for musicians in both manchester and liverpool so there is that
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I’ll throw a last one in here, it’s quite collectible, but it’s a very modern trance album by one of my favourite DJ groups called Above & Beyond.
This is their Common Ground album released in September 2018, they released it as a standard 33rpm 2 disk black vinyl gatefold (which I’d picked up previously), then they later announced a very limited run of these which is a 3 disk 45rpm set.
I haven’t been collecting vinyl that long (since about 2000, but mainly singles and EP’s until around 2016), and rarely collect these “collectible” versions, but this one really took my fancy.
It’s a solid perspex box with a stainless steel spindle hole affixed inside, on that are the 3 different coloured records separated by a same coloured slipmat.
I played this once when I got it, and it is substantially better than the original standard gatefold in sound quality. But it’s so damn beautiful I haven’t played it since, can’t bring myself to, it’s just too damn stunning. It’s by no means their best album, but it’s not bad, but effort like this I think needs to be celebrated, I love it when people go completely over the top for a special release.
I’ve taken these images from Discogs (some of which are from me), it’s that beautiful I wan’t to handle it as little as possible. I’m moving quite a substantial mileage in about 6 months, this record will be sitting in the passenger seat in my car, there’s no way removals are dealing with it!
The white band around the perspex box is just a cardboard slip, nothing fancy, but it is well done.
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I’d eat that at a bulk feed before I’d give it up!
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Cor now that is pretty
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There are a few schools around London that have done public performance work over the years. One of the best was for a performance of Alexandr Nevsky at the Barbican with the London Symphony that included two school choirs.
I did not participate in this choir, as I can’t sing, which was probably my saving grace. Various works were commissioned, including the first score/libretto by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber. It was formed by their good friend, a paedophile called Dodgson who committed suicide at the time of this release (1979). The Choirmaster Ian Hunter was a paedophile, and an anti-Semite, which didn’t mark him out as anything special at the time. A history teacher introduced me and many kids to classical music. He was the nicest guy and immensely popular. He had a large vinyl collection (and a large collection of child pornography). When he went to trial, there were so many good character witnesses that he got let off, whereas others got lengthy prison sentences. This was standard stuff in the 1970s, plus the school was a short walk from a great music venue (would go and see Genesis and the like after school) and a very good pub (the one used in the Queen film by the river).
I’d pretty much forgotten the few years I spent at this place, until this record turned up in a batch I bought in a car park in Harlow. I read a book about a spy called Klop. He spent some time in at the infamous Gestapo headquarters in Paris, into which many entered and few departed. When he did, he was asked how he survived. He said his English boarding school was worse.
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