Elvis Presley Price Guide 'Presleyana'

I used to love these books/price guides but only for items that came out in his lifetime. I wonder how this new volume will sell as old time collectors have lost interest or worse yet, are not with us anymore. Do the young buyers of Elvis really care that much about original 50's & 60's items or just the stuff that comes out from EPE these days?

I agree with steve, my collection runs 1954 to 1977 and all over the counter 45 to 1987, but you can see by what is being sold on e-bay that people are paying crazy prices for bootleg S un material and 45 rpm material on RCA with white labels in EPA for that never existed, but people never learn i wish i had a dime for every phony sold on e-bay every day/

I have been selling Elvis records & other Elvis related items for around 10 years on Ebay. The Elvis market is very weak. Items are just not selling like they did even just 3 or 4 years ago. Part of this is due to the economy but a bigger part is the fans are getting older & with the increase in age comes a decrease in interest. Maybe that's why Michael Jackson is now the hottest name in collecting. His fans are generally younger than the Elvis base. I have a set of 5 Suns which I am thinking of selling but even these which I once thought were gold are not commanding what they once were. I don't think this guide will be a true reflection of the items value. So i will not buy it.

I agree with oldscudder. Things sell for less now than before. Times and people move on. Such is life.

Most of my collection was blood, sweat, and tears trying to find before the internet. Then eBay comes along and made it easier to find rare Elvis items that most of us had never even seen or heard of. But by making it easier to find, it also drove the value down. There are still a few "holy grails" of Elvis collecting that bring top dollar, but the days of soundtrack albums and bonus photos are over. And all the crap that's been produced after his death carries no interest to real collectors at all. And yes there is counterfeiting, and the Elvis generation is dying off. It's sad, but everything has it's day I guess. The bottom line is and always has been; "Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it."

The Elvis collectors market had its boom in the 70's and 80's. Since then, interest has been slowly waning due to the many reasons stated already. One other reason I will give is the flood of useless CDs and trinkets put out constantly. This takes away from any real interest in the 'gems' of the Elvis world. With so much watered down product out there, its no wonder Elvis doesnt command the price he once did. All you need to do is look at auction sites and even ebay to know who commands (and more importanly gets) the top dollar. Its usually The Beatles. If this book has any real interest to anyone its probably for new collectors who collect FTDs and various promo cds, etc. The longtime hardcore collectors already know about the old stuff.

I agree with all of the comments here especially the comments of MightBelvis. I remember in the days before the internet that many people who sold records through Goldmine magazine or had their own catalogs made you think a 45 of "He Touched Me" or the 1973 LP Elvis was a rare find...Now it seems you can go on Ebay at any time and find a copy of almost any LP or 45. Some are reissues, some are originals, but I once paid $50 for the LP Elvis Today (mid 80's). Then along came CD's and the internet and that same LP is worth about $10.

MightBelvis took the words right out of my mouth. Blood sweat and tears trying to find items for your collection, then ebay and for a while it was brilliant… ie Fred in Wales has the EP I have been looking for, for years. Then you find another 50 guys have one for sale after you paid through the nose for it. But the old stuff (vinyl in the main) in mint condition is hard to find and still gets big bucks on the rare occasions that they turn up.

Indeed. I also spent a lot of money on bootlegs, 'special editions', pre-video movie reels and so forth in those days. Luckily I enjoyed it so much that I never regretted a penny. Now-a-days most everything is on cd or dvd for prices unimaginably lower. I never cared much for original releases, though I have almost all the original LPs. It's the music that counts anyway. This is an interesting book though for those who want to set up their collection. But beware, buy it because you enjoy it. These items are less worth than 3 decades ago. I know it as I was offered a very large sum in the eighties to sell my collection (which of course I kept). These days the value is much less - yet the enjoyment has never diminished!

I still have the first edition. My name is in the list of credits. I contributed information about the Roustabout Silver Top Stereo and the missing false starts on some pressings of Legendary Performer Vol 2. Unfortunately my entire 1st pressing collection of LPs from 1956-1977 was stolen years ago. I had several examples (variations) of most LPs. I now enjoy collecting FTD's Classic Album series.