I was out looking for vinyl today at a few local record shops and found 2 items that I was hoping to get some feedback on.

First was an LP of Apollonia 6, certified 1st Pressing, but with one of those "Promotional, Not For Sale" imprints on the front cover. The media was probably VG+/NM quality, the sleeve was probably VG.

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Second was an LP of The Family. Media and sleeve both appeared to be VG+/NM except for the same gold imprinted "Promotional, Not For Sale". The imprinting on both albums was actually almost like a mini-paragraph.

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So my question, does this make the vinyl more - or less - valuable? They were not asking outrageous prices, and the certifies 1st Pressing of Apollonia 6 has me intrigued.

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What would be a normal going rate for these?

Promotional copies are just the ones labels gave out free to radio stations and club DJs. That's why they had "not for sale" stamped on them, but used record stores would sell them anyway. Sometimes they had a white label on the record instead of the regular label color. They're usually not worth anymore than a regular version of an album, even less if it has a cutout on the cover. They can be sold for a higher price for certain acts (ie. original Beatles from the 1960s) or if the album is rare and out of print or the cover is different. With 12" singles and 45s, the promotional copies occasionally had different mixes or the songs were longer than the commercially released versions. This generally didn't happen with albums. These may be worth more because they were unique and can't be bought elsewhere. That is if the seller is aware that they're different.

[Edited 3/23/14 18:29pm]

I was curious if I should jump on these or wait until I see non-promo versions. I was impressed by the quality and condition (aside from the imprint). I think they were about $15 each or so.

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I had Apollonia 6 on vinyl as a kid and then on cassette. I never owned any of the Family stuff.

Both are worth having. However, U can find 'em out there for lower than $15. Example: I found a 12" for The Family's "Screams Of Passion" @ the Goodwill in Kent, WA a few years back for $1. Here's the kicker though- it was STILL SEALED!!!!!

Since the Apollonia 6 albums wasn't a success I doubt if there ever was a second pressing. So the "certified 1st pressing" claim is bogus IMO.

Anyway, both albums are excellent but 15$ is too much as they usually go for $2 on Discogs...