Articles — collector guides

The Beatles are one of the most iconic and influential bands in the history of music, and their memorabilia is highly sought after by collectors around the world. The value of Beatles collectibles can vary widely based on factors such as rarity, condition, historical significance, age (with oldest items typically worth the most as with many collectibles) and the demand among collectors. The value of such collectibles can fluctuate based on market demand, condition, provenance, and other factors, however. The following are examples of some of the more valuable Beatles collectibles along with approximate prices as available through 2022. Prices...

Who captured the first music industry gold record? Well, it depends on which type of gold record you're talking about. The earliest gold records were given out by recording companies who wanted to recognize and celebrate the achievements of artists whose music they had released. It's commonly thought that the first of these was awarded by RCA Victor's imprint Bluebird Records to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in February 1942 to celebrate the sale of over 1 million copies of their single "Chattanooga Choo Choo":  That said, there were probably many other such awards created around this period and certainly many more when Elvis...

Concert tickets and backstage passes have become excellent collectibles. Most are not overly expensive and they make a great scrap book project or, even better, make for a great art piece when designed into a collage to enjoy on a wall. Like most music collectibles, the artist matters (although also always a matter of personal taste), but older dated shows from an artist's early career or particularly famous shows can be the most highly sought after. Like with most collectibles, condition matters as well. Concert tickets and backstage passes make great collectibles Sometimes it's not about the artist, but rather...

Album art helped define the arrival of new music during its heyday, which ran roughly from the later 60s to the 80s when vinyl albums ruled music sales worldwide. While smaller formats such as cassettes, CDs and later streaming imposed size and format limitations on artwork since then, the contributions of visual artists to herald the arrival of new music is still fondly remembered by many. One of the most prolific groups of artists worked under the name Hipgnosis. The main partners behind Hipgnosis were Peter Christopherson, Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson. Freelance designers Richard Evans, George Hardie and Richard Manning...