OK, serious collectors, what are the 10 items you would say are the rarest on Prince? Feel free to post images of them.

OK, I'll list some examples:
1) For You WB Promo Poster ©1978
2) For You WB Promo Press Kit ©1978
3) Purple Rain Long-digipak CD (never manufactured but sample actually made. Format was used for Around The World In A Day)©1984
4) The Black Album (German and US LPs and US CDs)©1987
5) The Black Album (2LP 45RPM DJ set-2 songs on each side)©1987
6) For You 1977 Test Pressing ©1977
7) Ballad of Dorothy Parker 12" Jacket made but never released ©1987
8) Come WB CD-R with original Sequence, segues
9) Gangster Glam 12" and WB Promo Tape with Unreleased Remixes

Get the idea?

I don't know a lot about really specific stuff--like you just listed...and I don't own much vinyl (even though I'd like too) cause I was too young & wasn't really into music & it wasn't available to me, but I would like to be a "completist". That said, I am having a really hard time finding authenic CDs and LPs of the "affiliates" (e.g. V6, A6, The Family, Madhouse.) Ideally, I would love to have them on cd and LP...but practically, I would prefer CD. And I would love to have all the extended/B side 45s/singles.

Ooh, it'd also be cool to re-issue the long box CDs for albums like ATWIAD.


Does that make sense?


spelling edit
[Edited 2/5/06 17:18pm]

Tangerine17 said:

what r the tracklist of those?

what about the strange tales from the purple rain - promo
the grafitti bridge promo vinyl that came in the box
and that promo thing from around the world in a day.

In February 1998, Sevenmag published a list of the top ten U.S. Prince collectables. The order appears to have been determined by market value, but see the notes after #1, #3, and #9.

1) 1987 pressing of the Black Album. A CD copy is rarer than a vinyl one, but even a vinyl copy would at least be tied with #2 below.

2) The Come CD-R referred to above in another post

3) 1994 vinyl promo copies of the Black Album. The value depends upon the color of the vinyl; grey is the most valuable, followed by white, peach, and then black. At the time the article was written, peach copies were selling for a mere $100. And it's not clear whether a copy on black vinyl is significantly rarer than a promo copy of any other Prince album.

4) "The Future" promo CD single

5) "Pussy Control" / "319" promo CD single. This is the crown jewel of my Prince collection:



6) The original "Damn Near 10 Minutes" version of "Gett Off" on vinyl, with catalog number "JUN 7"

7) Kamasutra promo cassette

8) "51 Hours" promo 12" vinyl single

9) "Slave" / "New World" promo cassette single. This was given as a holiday gift to attendees at a Paisley Park performance. They also suggest that the following promo cassettes might be of similar value:

• "P Control" (House Mix) / "P Control" (Club Mix)
  
• The Versace Experience -- Prelude 2 Gold
  
• "Sexy Dancer" [long and short versions] / "Bambi"
  

10) "If Eye Love U 2Nite" promo CD single (by Mayte)

* * *

I'm sure some people are going to disagree with this list, even if it weren't eight years old.

Also, regarding #5, Sevenmag claimed that fewer than 20 copies of the "Pussy Control" / "319" promo CD were pressed, but I've also been told that 300 copies were pressed, with about 30 circulating among collectors. A reliable source has confirmed that 300 were made.

There's also confusion over whether the "Pussy Control" / "319" CD was officially "withdrawn." The same source told me it was not. Rather, the source said that these promos were sent to strip clubs, and because Paisley Park used an old list with outdated addresses, most got returned in the mail and were stored away.

I've also read a report about a 1997 party at Paisley Park where they apparently sold about five to ten copies of this CD for $5 (!) each.