Market Watch: Early Beatles LP fetches over $7,500

1. $7,565.16 The Beatles — Please Please Me: The excitement surrounding the remastered Beatles catalog can’t have hurt this auction item: One of the most-coveted Fab Four vinyl rarities — an early stereo copy of their first LP in near-mint condition, with the black-and-gold Parlophone label. The stereo version is significantly rarer than the mono since it came out at a time when mono was still the format of choice for British record buyers.

2. $5,899.99 Minor Threat — Out Of Step: Next up is a mint test pressing of the 1983 LP by punk group Minor Threat. What’s nice about this one is that the near-$6,000 winning bid goes straight into the pockets of Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson, who is downsizing his collection.

3. $4,001 David Bowie — Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (acetate): This one is a VG+ condition 12″ test pressing of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust LP (pressed by Audio Devices, Inc., New York), notable for the inclusion of a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Round and Round,” which had been replaced in the lineup by “Starman” by the time the album was released. (“Round and Round” later appeared as the B-side to “Drive-In Saturday.”)

4. $3,050 Lester Tipton — “This Won’t Change” b/w “Go On”: Here we have a VG/VG- condition copy of a northern soul rarity, Lester Tipton’s 1966 release for the Detroit-based La Beat label. (Note: A VG++ copy of this single sold towards the end of last year for $5,999.99.)

5. $3,000 Peacheroos — “Be Bop Baby” b/w “Every Day My Love Is True”: The last item this time out is a VG+ copy of a doo-wop rarity — the Peacheroos’ 1954 single “Be Bop Baby,” released on the Nashville-based Excello label. (“Be Bop Baby” was also featured on the CD compilation The Excello Story, Volume 1.)