The covers of the King Penguin series played a big part in the success of the series and some of the covers are little works of art.  One of the very popular ones is English Ballet printed in 1944, the trademark Penguin on the spine has been dressed up in a tutu.  The fact that a third of each book was taken up by illustrations and images and that there were well-produced plates, often in colour proved very popular with the readers.

The series first editor, Elizabeth Senior, was sadly killed in a London air raid in 1941 and Penguin appointed a young German refugee, Nikolaus Pevsner, as the new editor.  He recruited artists like Edward Bawden, John Piper and Barbara Jones to do the illustrations.  Their work is very collectable and if you want to collect King Penguin Books you should look out for Bawden’s Life in an English Village, Piper’s Romney Marsh and Jones’ Isle of Wight.

The topics covered sometimes bordered on the eccentric – The Leaves of Southwell, a study of the medieval carvings in the Chapter House at Southwell Minster, written by Nikolaus Pevsner with photographs by FL Attenborough, father of David and Richard, was beautifully produced, but Pevsner admitted himself that it had been a spectacularly bad seller.  The titles though seemed to matter less than the format of the books and people would buy titles they would not otherwise have read, because it was a King Penguin.

Although these books were written with children from age 12 upwards, they were nonetheless discussed in academic journals and even the American Shakespeare Quarterly gave a very favourable review to Elizabethan Miniatures, which was one of the best selling King Penguins of all times.

Unfortunately, rising production costs eventually put an end to the King Penguin series and the final title, The Sculpture of the Parthenon, was published in 1959.  King Penguins were published in large numbers and none of them are really rare, so it is not difficult to find them.  You should always find several in good second hand or antiquarian book shops.  If you are lucky enough, you might find a copy signed by the author or illustrator and that would push the value up a bit, but the good news is that King Penguins are very affordable.  They seldom cost more than £15 and most of them can be found for under £10.  You should expect to pay between £100 – £200 for a signed copy.  If you ever find a full set of all 76 titles it would probably cost somewhere between £600 and £700.

You should pay attention to the condition of the book and also whether it is a first edition or a reprint.  If you look on the back of the title page check whether it says ‘second’ or ‘revised’ edition.  If it does not, it is probably a first edition.  King Penguins printed after 1949 were issued with a paper dust jacket, identical to the cover, so you should check that it is present.  As always, check out your local car boot sales and auction rooms, as well as internet auctions and dealers.  Good luck in your hunt for King Penguin Books.

Murphy designed mainly pendants, brooches, rings and buckles in styles from Arts and Crafts to Art Deco.  The pieces were exquisite and stood out from the cheap, repetitive jewellery of the day, which consisted mainly of cheap diamond chipped rings and brooches.

In 1928 Henry George Murphy founded the Falcon studio and took up making silverware such as church plate, trophies and domestic items covering a range from tankards to egg cups.  His circular modernist coffee set won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1933.  Murphy’s first passion though was jewellery and he produced some stunning earrings and necklaces in the Art Deco style.  He also produced a sizeable range of  inexpensive silver brooches, his zodiac and animal designs being particularly popular.

People often wonder why he was so successful in his day and we can probably put it down to the fact that he had a shop in central London, and that meant he had to be commercial and keep up with the changing fashions.  Also, there was nobody at the time who was producing jewellery or silverware that was as stylish or distinctive.  His jewellery was bright and colourful and his earrings were often of an architectural nature that reminded people of the modernist buildings in New York.

Murphy was a typical example of the fact that success does not necessarily equal wealth.  He often struggled with cashflow, probably due to the fact that his customers were slow in paying.  At the peak of production in the early 1930s he employed ten people who all needed to be paid.  It was quite a stressful existence, especially as some of his time was also spent lecturing at the Central School of Art, where he was appointed Head of silversmithing, as well as attending overseas trade events.

If you are interested in owning a piece of Henry George Murphy jewellery, you are not likely to find it at a car boot sale, but would have to visit a specialist dealer and his pieces are not for the cash-strapped.  The jewels you are most likely to find are his silver zodiac brooches, they would be about the size of an old penny and you would have to pay around £400, while a silver ring would cost between £500 – £800 and a pendant £1,000 – £1,500.  His gold pieces rarely appear on the market, but if you were to find one you should expect to pay between £2,500 and £5,000 for a Falcon Studio ring.  At the top end, a gold necklace or a pair of earrings would cost between £5,000 – £10,000, especially if they were in the original Falcon Studio green leather box.  His silver pieces are easy to identify as most bear both, the Falcon Studio mark and the monogram HGM, as well as the hallmark.  His gold jewellery is rarely marked, which makes identification problematic.

While Henry George Murphy was largely forgotten after the war when pre-war designers were not in favour, in 2005 there was a major retrospective of his life and work at Goldsmiths’ Hall in London.  This broadened Murphy’s appeal and prices are still rising.  He  produced several hundred items of jewellery between 1928 and 1939, and if you can afford to buy one it could prove a shrewd investment.

The first buttons in Britain were made in the Shaftesbury area of Dorset around 1620, they were made out of ram’s horn and covered with fabric and were then embroidered with undyed linen or cotton thread.  The buttons were stitched onto cards and were exported to Europe and America between the late 18th century and the middle of the 19th century, it was a very lucrative business.  Then, at the Great Exhibition in 1851, John Ashton exhibited a machine that could cheaply produce fabric-covered buttons and that was more or less the end of the demand for Dorset buttons.

Button making was now taken up by in the cities by the likes of Wedgwood, who turned out tiny cameos of jasperware for buttons.  The demand for more buttons was now driven by a change in fashion.  Until the end of the 18th century buttons had been made predominantly for men, while women used hooks and laces to fasten their clothes.  During the Napoleonic wars women began to ape men’s fashion and military style jackets became highly fashionable.  By the mid 19th century beautifully decorated buttons were the norm on ladies’ clothing and made a very nice gift.  Often, for a 21st birthday, a young lady was given a leather case, containing a set of six silver buttons, adorned with flowers, fruits, birds, leaves or geometric patterns.

Buttons such as these were not suitable for washing and they would have been attached with toggles so that they could be removed easily.  When the garment wore out the buttons would be removed and attached to a new dress or coat.  The Victorians found all kind of innovative ways for wearing their buttons, some sown onto bonnets or purses.

If you want to start collecting buttons, there is an enormous range and you might want to focus on a particular area.  British railway companies each produced their own button, with designs varying according to rank.  While the lower ranks wore white buttons, the management had buttons made of brass.

The prices for buttons vary – while you can have early Dorset buttons for less than £10 for half a dozen, Wedgwood buttons or any buttons relating to the French revolution can set you back several hundred pound.  Buttons made by particular firms like Bimini, which specialised in glass buttons or makers such as Lucie Rie are very collectable.  Lucie Rie worked for Bimini for a while but she also made pottery buttons under her own name.  As they were not marked they are very difficult to identify, unless you can get hold of the catalogue of her studio sale.

One of the great things about collecting buttons is their affordability, often they can be had for pennies.  You should try car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops and internet auctions.  As with all collectables, there are the high-end items and you would have to pay considerable more for solid silver buttons or those made by a famous designer  In 2006 a set of dress buttons by Chanel, sold with matching cuff links, fetched £6,240 at auction.

As buttons are often unmarked they are difficult to identify and date, but you can get help with that from the British Button Society.  If you are interested in the history of buttons take a trip to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, they have an extensive selection of Birmingham made buttons and you might find some inspiration for collecting buttons.

While we often imagine the antique locket as a token between lovers, the 17th century brought another dimension.  It was not uncommon for people to wear a concealed locket containing the image of Charles I, to signal opposition to Cromwell.  In the following century the Jacobite supporters would wear hidden lockets of the young Pretender.

From the 1760s onward mourning lockets became fashionable.  Inside you would often find human hair belonging to the deceased, woven into complex basket patterns and often containing gold thread and seed pearls.  The heyday of the locket was the 19th century.  One of Prince Albert’s gifts to Queen Victoria was an enamelled bracelet with eight coloured heart-shaped lockets, each containing a lock of her children’s hair.  The fashion soon caught on and Victorian ladies wore their lockets on velvet ribbons or heavy gold chains.  In the 1870s large lockets were the fashion, in silver or gold.  Some were the size of matchboxes, while the children wore small heat shaped or round ones.

The advent of photography brought about a major change.  As the young men were going off to fight in the Boer war, they were presenting their sweethearts with lockets containing a photograph of themselves as a momentum.  Many lockets were now low grade and sold for a few shillings, meaning that they are not worth a great deal nowadays, other than sentimental value.  However, lockets from that period with enamel decoration, stones or pearl adornments increase the value and they would fetch between £400 and £750.

The popularity and demand for lockets also meant that the leading jewellers of the day, Cartier, Faberge, Garrard and Alexs Falize also made them, and an antique locket made by any of them would fetch a big price.  Heart lockets mounted with pave-set diamonds at the front and a solid dome of rock crystal at the back from the 1880s can fetch between £5,000 and £10,000.  There are also ‘regard’ lockets, so called because the stones, ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby and diamond spell ‘regard’.  They are very sought after and you would have to pay around £1,000 plus.

If a locket contains an image of a famous person it can command a high price.  A plain locket brooch made for Queen Victoria to commemorate her favourite gillie, John Brown, was sold at Bonhams a while ago for £13,200.  A locket containing Nelson’s and Lady Hamilton’s hair, made in 1798, the year their affair started fetched £44,000 last year – the estimate had been £5,000.

Antique lockets containing images of unknown people usually command more modest sums and it’s all down to personal taste.

Lea Stein was born in Paris in 1931 and not much is known about her early life, other than that she initially worked for Coco Chanel before establishing her own textile design company in 1957.  The company started making buttons for the fashion industry and Lea’s husband developed a laminated coloured rhodoid, consisting of multiple, paper-thin sheets of cellulose acetate that could be inter-layered with materials like glitter to produce a stunning effect.  The layered sheets were then baked to harden and various shapes would be hand-carved.

Lea Stein launched her first range of costume jewellery in the late 1960s, consisting mainly of bangles and brooches.  There is a multi-coloured  striped bangle from this collection which is very difficult to find and it would cost you between £200 and £300.  She started producing many types of jewellery, as well as jewellery boxes, picture frames and other accessories, but she is best known for her brooches.  There was a high demand for these items and at one time the factory employed 50 people.  By the early 1980s they were facing competition from East Asia and the company closed, selling the remaining stock to a dealer in the US.  Stein’s designs were a huge success in the US and in 1988 she was persuaded to start designing again, although on a smaller scale.  A sleeping cat named ‘Gomina’ and ‘Ric the Dog’were among the first of her new designs.

If you are buying Lea Stein brooches you are getting a piece of design history.  While many designers used futuristic materials in psychedelic colours in the 1960s and 1970s Stein is a class above, in innovation and design.  Working with rhodoid took time and patience and some effects could take up to six months to perfect.  Also, because of the differences in finish, no two pieces are identical, which make them true collectors’ items.  The simplified lines of the brooches mean they are often mistaken for Art Deco.

The brooch that Lea Stein is best known for is the ‘Fox’ pin, which was first produced in 1968  You can get it in all types of colours and patterns, from pearlised snakeskin to glitter and the price is very reasonable at £30 – £35.  You could put together an entire collection of just foxes, as it comes in so many variations.

You should also look out for the ‘Joan Crawford’ or ‘Carmen’ pin.  It was made from 1968-80, and this is considered to be the ‘vintage’ Lea Stein period – you would have to pay between £65 and £70.  ’Tennis Woman’ and ‘The Diver’ are from the same period and would be a bit more expensive, as would her Rolls Royces, saxophones and Elvis Presleys.

In the 1970s Stein bought the licence to a French children’s TV show called L’ille aux Enfants and in 1975 she reproduced the characters as brooches.  These are now very difficult to come by, but if you do find one you would have to pay well over £100.  Even rarer are the geometric ‘Chinese Men’ pins, which would set you back in excess of £200.  Since 1988 Lea Stein has only designed one or two pieces a year and they are snapped up by collectors on both sides of the Atlantic.  These are great for collectors as they are produced in small quantities – look out for the ‘Ladybug’ pin from 1998 and the ‘Penguin’ pin from 2001.  For those of you who love Christmas, she did a limited edition of Christmas tree pins in 2001.

You can recognise a Lea Stein brooch by the distinctive elongated V shape pin at the back and most brooches are signed ‘Lea Stein Paris’.  While prices can be high for the rarer designs, many of the brooches can be found for between £25 – £70, which is fantastic value, given the design and craftsmanship and really good news if you are collecting Lea Stein brooches.

In 1822 Mordan got together with the inventor Samuel Hawkins and they developed a mechanism for a propelling pencil that became known as the ‘ever-pointed’ pencil.  Mordan then bought out Hawkins’ share of the rights and sold them to stationer Gabriel Riddle in order to finance the production of the pencils.  By 1836 he was not only making propelling pencils but also vesta cases, perfume bottles and other items, always in silver or gold and excellent in form as well as function, but the ‘ever-pointed’ pencil always remained at the core of the product range.  Mordan died in 1843 and the company was run by two of his sons with great success.  They were at their peak in the late 1800s, but by the beginning of the 20th century people became interested in the coloured plastic fountain pens that were now available.

Tragedy struck during WW2 when the factory was bombed and the company’s archives were destroyed along with the factory.  It is therefore very difficult to know the full production range, the only catalogue to survive is from 1898.  Most of the propelling pencils that were produced during the 19th century are simple, elegant silver cylinders, decorated with fluted or reeded columns.  They have ring sliders to extend the pencil mechanism and they can fetch between £30 and £300, depending on period of manufacture and condition of the item.  Many of these pencils are not hallmarked and sellers often do not realise that they are silver, therefore bargains are to be had.

Mordan propelling pencils made in the 20th century are more affordable and you can often pick them up between £10 and £30.  Watch out for dents, splits and missing parts, as it is almost impossible to get them repaired.  The 19th century silver pencils are very desirable, especially the ones with hand-engraved scrolling vines, flowers or leaves.  Have a good look at the terminal at the opposite end of the lead holder, which unscrews to reveal lead storage cylinders.  Elaborately cast examples, which should echo the design of the slider ring are the most sought after and therefore the most expensive.  Nearly all have stones set into the end and are sometimes engraved with a seal or monogram.  You would have to pay between £100 and £350 for one of these.

Gold, ivory and tortoiseshell were also used.  These were primarily made in the second half of the 19th century and they would fetch between £70 and £150, depending on size and decoration.  The most desirable Mordan pencils are the enamelled ones – they are very rare and very desirable and a finely detailed enamelled gold faceted pencil would easily fetch above £1,500.

Mordan’s propelling pencils did not just excell in decoration, they were also extremely innovative, some contain small knives, while others have bodies that act as rulers.  There is a rare sheath pencil that has a case for a compass and thermometer.  You should also look out for the three colour-pencils where the slider ring is divided into enamelled sections, each containing a different colour lead. Among the most easy to find are his pen and pencil combinations – they have two sliders, one moving the lead holder out, the other a pen nib holder.  Prices for these are between £60 ad £150 for a simple, late 19th century example and between £300 and £600 for an early example fitted with a rare ‘Bramah-type’ swivelling nib holder.

The most popular and also most expensive among the Mordan range are the novelty-shaped pencils, which were the company’s speciality.  There were many different themes, including animals, sports, weapons and many others.  Prices are high and you would need to pay between £300 and £1,500.  Animals are highly sought after and include owls, pigs and fish.  Other rare examples include a pistol, a range of enamelled Egyptian sarcophagi, champagne bottles and a very rare sword.

If you want to become a collector it is quite easy to date Mordan propelling pencils and you should look out for the following marks:

• SM/GR Hallmarks – Mordan was in partnership with Gabriel Riddle from 1824-36.  These are very rare
• S Mordan & Co Makers and Patentees - Used from 1836 to c1845, following the split from Riddle
• S Mordan & Co Makers – 1845 to c1852, these are hard to find
• S Mordan & Co - the most common mark, used from c1852 into the 20th century
• The ‘Mordan Arrow’ – it was only recently discovered that the arrow mark identifies a 10ct gold piece made by Mordan.

Unfortunately, the company never recovered from the fire at the factory and they finally shut their doors in 1952.

Compacts appeal to our feminine side and remind us of a bygone age when life was somewhat more elegant than today.  Because compacts were used by everyone they are not rare to find and can often be had for around £20 and you should definitely check out your local car boot sale or antiques fair.

Needless to say, the rarer examples are somewhat more expensive but still very affordable and prices depend on the condition of the piece.  If you are starting out collecting compacts you should initially look out for two makers, Stratton and Kigu, which are the best known British compact makers.  Stratton began making compacts in the 1920s and they were made in a number of shapes which were named Princess, Empress, Queen and so on.  If a compact was called a convertable it meant that it could hold pressed as well as loose powder.  The surface decorations were varied – there were gold tones, transfer prints and enamels as well as, tortoise shell, celluloid and embroidery.  Stratton did not only pay attention to the look of the compact, they were also interested in improving the functionality and one of it’s innovations was the self opening lid which saved many a smart lady from a broken fingernail.

As fashion changed and women no longer used face powder Stratton went into decline and was finally acquired in 2000 by Firmin & Sons and they still make a limited range of beautiful compacts.

Kigu of London took its name from the founder Gustav Kiaschek and Kigu compacts were very popular from the 1950s to the 1970s and there were some fascinating designs, especially the Flying Saucer.  This was first made in the mid to late 1950s when anything to do with space was very fashionable and the Flying Saucer compact was a piece of design genius.  Examples are very rare and go for hundreds of pounds when they come up at auction.  There are cheaper Kigu compacts and you should look out for one of their musical ones.

While Stratton and Kigu are among the best know of compact makers there are many others, including Mascot, Coty, Yardley, Vogue Vanities, as well Houbigant, a French make.  You will also find many unmarked compacts which can be especially beautiful and interesting.

If you want to start collecting compacts your first port of call should be an antiques and collector’s fair where you will usually find a good selection.  If you are within striking distance of Birmingham you should try to visit the Antiques for Everyone event, where you will find several sellers.  Car boot sales and flea markets are often a good source for compacts and you could end up with a bargain.

Before buying a compact you should check that it opens and closes easily and that the interior is not damaged.  When buying enamelled compacts check for damage, as enamel chips easily.  Be prepared to pay a premium if the compact is in its original pouch or box as this will add value.

The Art Nouveau movement had a dramatic effect on the design of drinking vessels.  If you would have had a glass of Hock in 1895 it would have been served in a glass that was not much different from what would have been used in ancient Rome.  They were usually made from green or brown glass with a hollow, ribbed stem splayed at the bottom to form a foot.  They were often enamelled or cut with town scenes or plants and birds.  The shape was functional rather than aesthetic.  Ten years later a glass of Hock would have been served in a totally transformed glass, which would have been constructed with a proper foot, a long, graceful stem and a stylish bowl which might have been enamelled with elegant flowers and hand cut to heighten its sleek appearance.

These stemmed glasses were much harder to make – the stem, foot and bowl had to be made as separate pieces, using different techniques.  They then had to be attached together while all three pieces were the same temperature, to avoid them cracking on contact.  The decorative cutting, usually at the base of the bowl, was very tricky to do successfully and these very delicate glasses had to be fired many times so that the fine polychrome enamel colours of the Art Nouveau images could be applied.

Art Noveau had arrived and wine glasses had become exotic objects in their own right.  Glassmakers soon realised that for a wine glass to feel good in the hand, it was necessary for the weight to be at the top and bottom, which was the total opposite of the ‘roman’ glass, where the weight was in the stem and this made it feel clunky.  Nowadays, people’s taste is for clear glass and also, as glasses are mass produced, the excesses of the Art Noveau style have been lost.  However, they make great collectors’ pieces and here are some of the names you should be looking out for if you want to collect.

Theresienthal - these glassworks were opened in 1836 by the Steigerwald brothers and they changed hands many times.  By the 1890s the Poschinger family had taken over and established a major market selling roman style hock glasses.  Because they were already making large quantities of stemware, they were able to produce the widest, most successful range of Art Nouveau drinking glasses, as well as decanters, bowls and plates.  They are very collectable and one of the better examples would probably cost you from £200 upwards, but there are cheaper ones to be had.

Fritz Heckert - was a very successful German glassmaker and he quickly adapted to the Art Nouveau style.  You might say that the company had compromised by retaining the flared stem for most of the glasses, but they managed to introduce a much more elegant Nouveau style.  You should be able to get a nice glass from about £50 upwards.

Moser - first established in 1857, this was probably the biggest of the glasshouses to attempt Nouveau stems.  Their style was unique as it focused on cut glasses and shunned the enamel styles.  Moser is still a major force in the Czech glass industry today.

Meyr’s Neffe and Josephinenhutte - these are a little behind the big three and their output is only partly documented and if you see any glasses marked up ‘origin unknown’ they could well be by one of them.  Like Theresienthal, Meyr’s Neffe did tableware as well as glasses and although collectors don’t tend to go for these, there are some very nice pieces.

There were probably some 20 or 30 glasshouses throughout Bavaria and Bohemia, all making lovely Art Nouveau stems in the early 20th century.  If you are interested in collecting try an antiques fair where there will be specialist sellers who will be very happy to give advice.  If your budget is on the small side there are many examples of lovely Art Nouveau stemmed glasses by unknown makers and these can be picked up at very reasonable prices.

Many collectors of bears start with the modern, limited editions of Steiff.  Everyone has heard of the name and is aware of the history and the quality.  A really early Steiff, even in poor condition, would cost hundreds of pounds but, fortunately, there are cheaper alternatives.  The Zotty, one of Steiff’s most popular designs in the post war era, is constantly overlooked by collectors and can usually be found in good condition at affordable prices.  Zotty was introduced in 1951 and with his eager, open-mouthed appearance was designed to appeal to children.  He was a huge success and Steiff made him in varying styles and sizes well into the 1990s.  Collectors tend to go for the earlier examples, such as the 11inch (28cm) one and if you are lucky you might be able find one for under £100.

If Zotty isn’t your thing there is another cut-price vintage option, an Original Teddy, introduced by Steiff in 1950 and made in large quantities and a variety of sizes and styles.  The Original Teddy was made from high quality materials and that is one of the reasons why so many are still found in good condition.

While Steiff is the most high profile Teddy manufacturer collectors should also look at some of the other German and European companies.  The Hermann company has produced some very fine bears.  While early Hermann’s would cost you between £150 and £500, depending on condition and popularity, the later designs are more affordable.  There is a lovely 19inch (48cm) teddy from the 1980s made from gorgeous apricot mohair tipped with dark brown and this can often be had for less than £100.  Some collectors will be put off by the fact that that it’s from the 1980 and won’t consider this to be vintage enough.  They might want to go for a European bear from an unknown maker – there are some lovely examples and they can often be had for between £50 and £60.

If you want to collect British vintage teddies you should look at Merrythought and one of their post war examples in London Gold mohair.  These can be found in various sizes and the prices are not bad at all.  One to look out for is the Merrythought Cheeky.  It was launched in 1957 and soon became a best seller and several other manufacturers produced their own versions.  Some collectors are only intersted in teddy bears that are threadbare, what we call ‘well loved’.  These are usually from unknown makers and their charm often lies in the expression on their faces.  You can pick them up for low prices at auctions.

If you want to start collecting vintage teddy bears you should check out your local auctions and specialist dealers, as well as antique centres and antique fairs.  There are also dedicated Bear Fairs which it might be fun to visit.  As always, buy what you like rather than hope to find a bear at a small price that turns out to be worth a lot more.

Despite the fact that the Beatles split up more than 40 years ago they are still the most collectable group in the world.  Although they sold millions of records between the first single Love Me Do in 1963 and their final album Let It Be in 1970, there are records that are worth hundreds or even thousands of pounds.  The condition of the record is everything – Beatles records were played to death by their fans, so if you have one that is in mint condition, meaning it has never been played, you are in luck, as collectors around the world will pay a King’s ransom for it.  One of the Beatles’ most sought after albums is is a rare copy of their debut album ‘Please Please Me’ in stereo with gold and black labels.  Parlophone, the recording company, changed the labels to black and yellow after the initial pressing., that is the reason why gold and black label copies change hands for around £2,500.

There are other collectable Beatles singles and you should look out for ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ issued in 1967 with the first bespoke sleeve for a 7-inch single.  Collectors will pay around £50 for this record in mint condition.  You don’t have to be rich to collect Beatles records, you can pick up singles not in mint condition from as little as £1 for singles and £4-£12 for albums.  There are other English bands from the 1960s that are very collectable, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and The Small Faces, among others.

The 1960s saw the emergence of soul music and, if you would like to collect this, there are many sub genres ranging from the high priced Northern Soul to a variety of particular labels.  One of the most collectable soul labels is obviously Tamla Motown.  Motown records were first issued in 1963 on the Oriole label and then on the Stateside label in 1963/64, before Tamla Motown moved to EMI.  The early singles are really collectable now and if you can find The Valadiers’ I Found A Girl/You’ll Be Sorry Someday (CBS1809 1963) you could expect to get about £900 for it.  Millions of Motown records were sold and you can build up a great collection, you might also look at the Stax and Atlantic labels.

You should also look at psychedelic records, where the prices have been rising recently, especially online.  Apart from Pink Floyd and Jimmy Hendrix, there were a large number of bands that only released one or two singles that did not do very well at the time but are now sought after by collectors.  Look out for the likes of Mike Stuart Span, Shy Limbs, The Fox, Australian Playboys or One in a Million, they could be worth quite a bit of money.

If you are into reggae you will know that one of the most collectable labels from the 1960s is Island records founded by Chris Blackwell and every single from this label is worth money and you should also look at labels like Coxsone and Blue Beat.  Reggae albums sell for good money as there were fewer issued and they did not sell well at the time.  Names to look out for are Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken, Jackie Mittoo, The Maytals, Lee Perry, Hugh Roy, Millie Small and early Bob Marley.

If you want to become a collector and only have a small budget collecting 1960s vinyl records is for you.  You can get very good copies of classic Dave Clark Five, Animal and Beach Boy singles for £3-£5.  A good tip for collectors is to look out for different pressings of the same record.  Up until the mid 1960s all records were issued in mono, but then stereo arrived and everything changed.  Just like the move from vinyl to CD or video to DVD, there was a transition period and records would be issued in mono and stereo.  There can be a great difference in the prices of mono and stereo- a gatefold copy of Jimmy Hendrix’s Axis Bold as Love from 1967 is worth £250 in mono and £100 in stereo.

Collecting 1960s vinyl records is great fun and the prices are affordable.  If you are interested you might want to invest in an old fashioned record player so that you can actually enjoy playing them.