One thing we forgot about when initially checking the water damage in the garage was an archive box – one without a lid on. We found it yesterday and J has today made a long list of all the LP’s that were packed in it. There were 58 LP’s. Some belonged to J’s mother and she keeps for sentimental reasons, some were ours.
I used to take lots of care of albums – buy it, record it, hardly touch it again save for reading the sleeve notes (or in the case of the couple of Yes albums checking the graphics) so the LP’s in there are actually in good condition – at least they were. I have Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd among others and J has several too. She rang the insurance who said to either take a typical value and multiply it, or to check prices. HMV said there is no average so she is valuing them using various websites. I have a perfect copy of an AC/DC album (Dirty Deeds) which hasn’t even a wrinkle and the water has ruined it. The sticker that says £2.50 is fine but you can’t buy that for that much money now – it’s much more. Some of J’s cannot be found anywhere online for sale – even eBay – with valuations being several tens of pounds. One site lists one of J’s at a huge £180. So far, the average price is running around the £20 mark. 58 LP’s. That’s over a thousand quid. And that’s daft.
Take the Dirty Deeds album. I bought it on CD – because I only ‘upgraded’ those albums I really wanted – and it’s now ripped and in the computer and my zen. So why fuss about the album? Would I have sold it? Probably, yes. I’ve sold albums before to those strange little shops that still sell them, but even so it does seem odd claiming for something I owned but owned in a different format. I’ve lost it and not lost it. Would I replace it? Doubt it – I have no way of playing it anyway.
It’s easy with the games – they will be replaced, as will my absolutely massive beanbag, as will the Black&Decker jigsaw – but the records? We will claim because that’s what it is there for but it does seem very strange.