Sometimes you win… Sometimes you loose!

[miguelimarques]

The Collector's Joy

Shiny pebbles, buttons bright,
Lost treasures gathered in the light.
A feather, shell, a fallen leaf,
Each holds a moment, brief and brief.


However, things sometimes are not so straightforward ?

How many of you bought something for ££$$€€¥¥ that was only worth nothing. Or found the grail for a penny.

About 13 years ago, a Nevermind US Cassette promo popped up on eBay!
It was from a British seller at the starting price of £0.99. As a cunning buyer, I have decided to send him an offer via private message of £25 (though, I knew it would go for much more, but my pockets were (are) small). He kindly refused it. The auction ended and no one else bid on it… I got it for £0.99 plus £1.25 postage.

Over 20 years ago, I bought online several Bleach US LPs (first pressings) plus Molly’s Lips 7” green vinyl and The Go Team Scratch It Out 7”. The seller never included the singles in the package and I was never able to retrieve the items or the sfunds… and I paid at the time too much for all (a lost of £125).

Back in the 90s, there was a small record shop is Lisbon called TORPEDO, which would import weekly special editions from British and German distributors. It was amazing… they had every Bleach LPs original colours (except white) plus the Aussies… BUT I bought none!! I also vividly remember (around 1994/5) saving money to buy the Nirvana CD squidgy pak (which cost 6,000$00 - €30 - my monthly salary in 1996 was 56,000$00 - €280), I went to the shop over and over again to see it… but when I went to buy it I decided to buy instead 3 CDs from other artists!! Silly me… it took me over 10 years to find a copy!

Recently, I finally bought a Bleach Red White Swirl LP (@Sickboy you are not the only one!) I got it part of a collection that included several other Bleach LPs that I already had (clear yellow, ZIA green, Aussie tri-colour, plus another) - all for £600!

And how many of you bought the fake Hormoaning Japanese CD?! I was one of them… This back to 1996 or so. Or bought a Sliver 12” blue vinyl thinking it was a Greek variation (maybe some of you remember, but in the late 90s there was a rumour of a Greek Sliver 12”… but they were just regular copies exported to Greece with no differences whatsoever, as they were also exported to other parts of the world).

Please share your stories (if you can or must!)

---

At least we are lucky not to collect Star Wars:

https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/305191/PALITOY-STAR-WARS-RETURN-OF-THE-JEDI-1983-GENERAL-MADINE-TRI-LOGO-70-BACK-B-AFA-80-NM

[Jarrod Lawrence]

I had so much Star Wars stuff in the 90s, including a bunch of those unopened figures. I sold them at a local auction house out in the rural corn fields of Indiana around 1999 and made maybe $100. Same story with a ton of Peanuts stuff I had collected since childhood, Batman toys from the original TV series, and about 1,000 Marvel comic books, mostly Spider-Man.

As for Nirvana, some things that stand out are getting an original 1988 flyer for $30, a couple of 1st press Nevermind US LPs for about $50 each, the defective Bleach cassette for $45 and the squidgy pack for $12.

If you have duplicates of the clear yellow, ZIA green, Aussie tri-colour and want to trade, let me know. I’ve not really bought any of the newer represses.

[Sickboy]

I mean there were certainly some things I regretted getting but I think for all of them I didn't pay much. The most recent was a CAYA cd (UK if i recall correctly) which looked like the AUS one printing colorwise in the auction pics. It ended up being the camera not getting the color correctly.

My top 3 bargains are probably:
1. Bleach AUS 12" black for like 20 € (it was on German ebay just sold as a Bleach LP and it seemed no one else cared to look at the pictures). Plus, it was like new.
2. Nevermind Czech yellow disc I guess it was well below 10 €. Back then nobody knew if it was really official so I wouldn't have spent more anyway
3. Bleach AUS 12" yellow and Hormoaning 12" I don't remember exactly but I think they were about 300 € combined. Both absolutey flawless.

That may sound nice but the time I invested in crawling sites for this stuff does not copmpare not even close :-D

@Jarrod Lawrence: Wow, you bargains are also insane! :-)

@miguelimarques: Even without the singles your Bleach LPs buy from 20 yerars ago sound like a good deal from todays perspective ;-)
Ah, I fall into line with Jarrod Lawrence, since there are so many variations of the ZIA green I'm always interessted in one if it differs enough from the ones I already have. So if you're up for a trade or sale, let me know.
Lastly, I saw that auction that included the red/white splattered Bleach and the others on popsike I think. I really don't know how I could have overlooked it. Is the red/white splattered numbered? Congrats anyway! :-)

[miguelimarques]

@Jarrod Lawrence:
The markets were very different in the 90s, which were controlled by a few ‘experts’, a few dedicated auction houses and shops. The internet made all of us ‘experts’ in a split of a second eheheh… and with the feeling that we can get them all (which I believe it is still possible; otherwise, I would not continue to collect). Star Wars is one of those crazy test subjects, hand by hand with DC and Marvel Comics… all exposed, hyperinflated and, subsequently, exploited.
I believe that all of us suffer from a similar symptom: subtle hoarding disorder eheheh… though some that only collect test pressings are less reliable ? (peace ❤️)
I can only imagine the rarity of that flyer! Not many have survived for sure! That is probably the holy grail in your collection! For some odd reason, I have never felt tempted to have a defective Bleach cassette… silly me! But what a catch!!

please pm me a list of what you have for trade

@Sickboy:
I am jealous!! Only €20 for the Aussie Bleach?!? Crazy!! I think I remember when you found the yellow Czech Nevermind… it became subject of discussion in the other forum (now long defunct). I have never seen a copy for sale… so, I reckon less than 500 copies(?) I forgot to mention that I traded a Hormoaning Aussie Cassette (which I paid £35) plus a Hard to Believe censored edition (around £8) for a PRT CD single!! (I was able to replace both items a few years later for around £120, not bad).
You are right, the Bleach LPs were a bargain compare to today’s prices, but it was hard to digest at the time. I also lost an Ella Fitzgerald’s The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books 16 CD Verve Deluxe Box through a very unreliable delivery company (a story for another time!), otherwise, I have been lucky and HAPPY!
The Bleach LP came in an almost mint sleeve, with the usual green sticker on the top right; so, no number.
please pm me a list of what you have for trade

[andypandy]

I miss the times when you could get test pressings for $200-300, I got many nice deals back in the day.
Then the next step was $500-600, then $1000+, and then...

[miguelimarques]

Yep!
I vividly remember when you got your Hormoaning test pressing!
It went for peanuts!!
Though, the recently John Peel’s test pressings sold at auction went for less than I was expecting, due to their rarity and to who they belonged to.

[andypandy]

I wouldn't say it was peanuts at that time, but yeah... How much was it again? $2000-ish, USD or AUD?

I think I got the Mayking test pressings for $200 each.

Yeah, I was fearing they would go for more, too. I'm glad they didn't, but I know a lot of us were offered to buy one of them from the buyer with a hefty markup.

[Hormoaner]

Half way through the COVID period, scrolling bored through online ads, scored a 12” Tupelo Sliver test press for 600.-

Was very pleased ?

[soundjunky]

all i can say is that you guys (and many others in the community) seem way more hardcore than me;
I can identify with the compulsive collecting thing, but for me, my music collection was always more about having listening copies over variants.

I have had fun collecting this stuff, but i definitely feel less compelled to fill perceived holes in the collection these days;
I don’t know that I ever found any deals like what you guys did - being probably a bit late to the game, i instead watched prices, then bought if i believed the deal to be fair.
I started with collecting cd’s, so that’s still my preferred format - over time some variants seem to have been forgotten (like the k-mart censored in utero; that one took some time to get both cd and tape variants!)

oh - I guess I did get one real deal;
I got a promo cassette copy of ‘it’s an interview’ in a small lot ages ago;
I have only heard of one other copy mentioned - the one in kurts tape collection;
I’d really love to know how rare that is…

I’d love to one day get a first press (white) Bleach to accompany my second press (black) copy;
But I’m fine with second, third (a single translucent pink), and anniversary white…

[miguelimarques]

(10-18-2025, 02:55 PM)Hormoaner Wrote: Half way through the COVID period, scrolling bored through online ads, scored a 12” Tupelo Sliver test press for 600.-

Was very pleased ?

Great catch!!
I still remember them being advertised on the Record Collector Magazine for £50 (Sliver and Blew 12”s)… crazy times!!

---

(10-18-2025, 05:10 PM)soundjunky Wrote: all i can say is that you guys (and many others in the community) seem way more hardcore than me;
I can identify with the compulsive collecting thing, but for me, my music collection was always more about having listening copies over variants.

I have had fun collecting this stuff, but i definitely feel less compelled to fill perceived holes in the collection these days;
I don’t know that I ever found any deals like what you guys did - being probably a bit late to the game, i instead watched prices, then bought if i believed the deal to be fair.
I started with collecting cd’s, so that’s still my preferred format - over time some variants seem to have been forgotten (like the k-mart censored in utero; that one took some time to get both cd and tape variants!)

oh - I guess I did get one real deal;
I got a promo cassette copy of ‘it’s an interview’ in a small lot ages ago;
I have only heard of one other copy mentioned - the one in kurts tape collection;
I’d really love to know how rare that is…

I’d love to one day get a first press (white) Bleach to accompany my second press (black) copy;
But I’m fine with second, third (a single translucent pink), and anniversary white…

We are all hardcore compared to other (normal) people… some only collect cassettes, other only vinyl, while some crazy people collect everything! It is just a matter of perspective. In the end, we collect for ourselves (to feel some kind of void…?)

Nirvana is just a small part of my music collection (reaching now 4300 items, which includes 600+ Nirvana).

I am also missing a few core items and probably will not get them ever, but that it is fine…

I know someone else who has the it’s an interview cassette promo… silly item that took many many years to surface!