How To Grade Your Records Using Goldmine Grading

Determining vinyl condition is one of the tougher aspects of buying collections from someone living in another state. While most collectors are already familiar with these terms. There are cases when someone has inherited a large collection or just pulled the records out of storage after 20 years; some of these terms may be new to you.

These are the Goldmine grading standards with a few tweaks. Some of the terminology may be confusing to some. For example, G+ means trashed, and VG+ means quite good. I have truncated this list of extraneous information to keep things as simple as possible.

MINT

Vinyl: The record is in perfect condition and unplayed.

Cover: The art is in perfect condition, with no corner bends, promo cuts, or signs of wear. Some records come sealed from the manufacturer; some do not.

Near Mint (NM or M-)

Vinyl: A record that appears to have never been played and has no needle marks or hairlines.

Cover: A cover is near perfect with no corner bends. Minimal signs of wear can pass for NM but should be almost non-existent.

Very Good Plus (VG+)

Vinyl: A record that is played but well taken care of and still in excellent condition. There may be light hairlines and surface marks that will not affect play. VG+ is the cutoff for serious collectors.

Cover: Sleeves may have shelf/handling wear or dinged corners, but no major seam splits. 

Very Good (VG)

Vinyl: The record has obvious signs of play and may have light scratches that will mildly impact the audio. 

Cover: The art has more heavy signs of wear, may appear tattered, and has writing, stickers, or partial seam splits. VG is on the lower end of what serious collectors want, but it may be OK for newer collectors. 

Good (G), Good Plus (G+)

Vinyl: The vinyl is heavily played, scratched, poorly taken care of, and may skip. The sound is notably diminished.

Cover: The art is barely hanging on, maybe ripped, seam-split, has ringwear, and looks quite worn.

Poor (P), Fair (F)

Vinyl: The record is severely scratched or warped and won’t play.

Vinyl: The cover appears so trashed that you could throw it away.

If you need help grading your record collection, you can send me some photos, and I’ll point you in the right direction.

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