Sleep-deprived Phish fans who woke up early for Record Store Day made a great investment it seems. As noted in our Record Store Day coverage, the most sought-after piece of vinyl on the April 21 event was a limited-edition vinyl pressing of the band's first album, Junta, and the available copies went fast. One version included a limited edition poster ($80), while the other, slightly-less-super-deluxe version went for $40. Both versions are now going for roughly twice that amount on eBay.
See Also: • Record Store Day 2012: The hunt for Junta • Phish returns to Colorado, three days at Dick's Sporting Goods Park • In honor of Record Store Day this Saturday: Ten records we treasure • Five famous record collections and a look at their fate • Complete Record Store Day coverage
But that doesn't mean everybody's selling. Some folks, like Tim Dobert, whom we caught up with on Record Store Day, are avid collectors. "Understand I've been seeing Phish since early '90s," he explains. "I first saw them at a bar here in Crested Butte. I grew up listening to the Grateful Dead, and when I heard Phish, I knew this was the band I wanted to follow around. I've been a collector of their posters, music -- anything -- ever since."
Twist & Shout ordered sixty copies of the album -- thirty of each version -- from the limited run of 5,000, and sold out in five minutes. Dobert bought two of those copies. "Last year I dropped $350 at Record Store Day," he says, "but this year, I'm getting married, so I'm on a budget."You have to admire a man with a sense of priorities. The Crested Butte resident drove five hours to join Record Store Day's festivities, a national event that emphasizes the importance of supporting local music outlets. He stood in line at Wax Trax at 3 a.m. the night before, just to ensure he'd get his coveted copies of Junta.
Cleary Dobert isn't buying Phish swag for what he might make by reselling it. But the tiny number of pressings does beg the question: Was it a good investment? According to eBay, it was. One copy of Junta that included the limited edition poster just sold for $174 -- more than double what Dobert paid for it. Many of the non-poster versions are fetching $80, also double what Twist charged. The store could've named any price, says Dobert, and it would've still had a buyer. "If they'd put a $300 price tag on it," he confesses, "I'd have bought it. It doesn't matter."
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