Tom Dunne: Boxsets can be brilliant but expensive items to collect
Paul McCartney singles' box set.
They used to say, in crass social circles a million miles away from ours, that “Cocaine was God’s way of letting you know you had too much money”. This was a Harry Enfield “loadsa money” type world. It’s gone now, unless you are 17 but yet own a French Mastiff and a Canada Goose coat, but it has been replaced.
Today, God’s way of telling you that you have too much money is the vinyl boxed set. It’s showy and brash, is sometimes of dubious quality, but will lighten any wallet. You’ll probably buy it in a rash moment for the weekend and you may well regret it, but you will buy it, worse fool you.
The similarities end there. You won’t be secreting a box set about your person. No, in fact, you may need the services of a few strong boys to carry it for you. And you’ll need new shelf space. In fact a lot of new shelf space.
The most recent addition to this world is the Paul McCartney singles collection. It comprises 80 seven-inch singles released between 1971 and 2019. It will set you back $611 and I heard a postage estimate of $160. So $770 all in — about €740. I’d used a shocked face emoji here but I don’t want to reveal my age.
It is a beautiful thing: It comes in a fetching wooden crate, the singles have restored original artwork, the original B-sides and a 148-page book with a foreword from Macca on his love of B-sides and crate digging. It is limited to 3,000 copies. It sold out instantly and netted Macca $1.8 million.
But here is where it gets scary. It is quite likely that very few of these box sets will ever get opened. They will instead simply appreciate in value. They have stopped being merely collectable. They are now an investment, and a more solid one than, say, Bitcoin.
These are records that you’d be mad to listen to or play. Simply ripping off the plastic will cost you hundreds of euro. Look at them on your new shelves, throw sugar at them, but don’t do anything rash, like introduce them to your stereo.
There was a time when the box set was just a little more expensive than the standard album. It came with extended notes, some photos and maybe an additional live EP. Or it was all the original albums in one stunning presentation box. Add mood lighting and a refreshment and you had a great night in.
But something changed. I noticed it first on the vinyl box set reissues of the Led Zeppelin albums. They were humongous. Yet, despite everything, the retro tickets, tour programs and badges, it was still just the one album hiding in there.
It’s gotten worse since then. Some of the most eye-watering prices include:
All Things Must Pass Uber: Vinyl €1432
Complete Studio Collection, Vinyl: €599
Minotaur 5 Albums box: $751
Paper Sleeve Box, CD $501
Stereo Box CD $661
USB box (in shape of an Apple) €229
I am delighted to say that I own these last three and that during the great CD clear out, despite all coming perilously close to the charity shop run, they survived. I couldn’t let them go, because I still listen to and enjoy all of them. How old school of me.
You can of course buy a boxset that will decrease in value. Nothing is certain, but that said had you bought Macca singles box when you had the chance there is one currently on eBay for a cool £1800, a more than triple return on your initial investment.
Equally if you had bought a brick from inside Studio 2 of Abbey Road for £300 as recently as 2019 you could move it on today for $16,000. It all gets a bit dizzying, all a bit “why didn’t I buy property in the ‘80s?” The most covetous item I ever got was a special anniversary edition of the film Help. It came with colour shots, a book and an album and was simply stunning. It was so beautiful I could never bring myself to open it. It was like a little time capsule of happiness that would be despoiled if it saw air.
I eventually gifted it, unopened, to the biggest Beatles fan I know. And I’ve just checked: it’s down to £4.49 on eBay. Phew, the relief!
