Grading Vinyl Records

To determine a vinyl record album s value the most important factor is its condition.

Grading vinyl records.

But we recognize that there are many variables to grading a record. It is now the most widely used guide for the buying and selling of vinyl albums. These grades were established from various other resources pertaining to collecting for example coin book comics and card collecting goldmine magazine first published a grading scale in 1974. Make sure the combination of answers is plausible in real life to get an accurate grade e g.

Near mint nm the record has been on a shelf between other records. Never been played and usually sealed. Since grading vinyl records can be subjective there have been some effort to standardize a grading guide. When buying or selling vinyl records it s easy to be subjective about the condition a record is in.

Goldmine vinyl grading system explained in detail goldmine is the standard in record grading. Contentsthe vinyl grading systempoor p or fair f good g very good vg very good plus vg excellent e near mint nm mint m when shopping for used records understanding the way vinyl is graded is important. The vinyl looks glossy and clearly has only been played a few times. There are no marks on the vinyl and the whole package is complete.

To visually grade a record inspect the sleeve and any inserts lyric sheets posters etc for ring wear discoloration sticker residue and seam splits. It will ultimately decide what you pay for an album or what someone will be willing to pay you. What is the goldmine grading system. For example if the record is perfect but you hear a background noise when playing according to the guidelines it can t be higher than vg.

It has undergone changes through out the years. People have been willing to pay money for the album jacket. In fact it s essential to your collection piece s quality. Grading a vinyl record is inherently subjective but knowing what to look for will help you accurately determine what condition a record is in.

The goldmine grading system explained the goldmine grading system was 1st created in the early years of record collecting. Over the years the goldmine grading guide has tried to standardize this. Many ebay auctions and stand alone web sites swear by it. Goldmine developed the guide below and it is now the most widely used guide for the buying and selling of vinyl albums.

You might get weird grades while messing with the answers. Fortunately the excellent record collector magazine provide a grading guide which is now widely accepted. The condition of the vinyl record and the album jacket both affect the price. Goldmine grading system defined.

Questions in this section. A badly warped record is most of the time if not all. Vinyl grading isn t an exact science but it s certainly a useful metric.