Somewhere in an attic, a box of old records might be worth a car payment. Or a house. Or, in one case, an amount most of us will never see in our bank accounts.

The records below are not ordinary thrift store finds. They are one-of-a-kind discs, signed copies and early pressings that sold for serious money, according to Mental Floss and Vovyl.

Before you run to the basement, a fair warning. Prices like these belong to extraordinary copies, and condition and originals matter a great deal. A scuffed reissue of the same title is a very different thing.

Still, the stories behind these seven are worth the read.

Mental Floss Reports A $2 Million Sale In 2015 For A Wu-Tang Album Pressed Only Once

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin by the Wu-Tang Clan sits at the top. Mental Floss says only one copy was pressed, and that it sold for $2 million in 2015 to Martin Shkreli, then head of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

The sale included a clause barring commercial release for 88 years. Vovyl adds that the album was recorded from 2007 to 2013 and kept in a silver box sealed with wax.

Vovyl also reports a 2021 resale for $4 million to PleasrDAO. That is a lot of money for something nobody can simply put on a turntable at home.

Ringo Starr’s Own White Album Copy Fetched $790,000 In 2015, Mental Floss Says

The Beatles’ White Album is easy to find in a record store. Copy number 0000001 is not.

Mental Floss reports that early copies carried unique serial numbers and that this one was Ringo Starr’s personal copy. It sold for $790,000 in December 2015 at Julien’s auction.

Vovyl says Starr kept it in a London safe deposit box for 35 years, and that the proceeds went to his Lotus Foundation. At the same auction, Mental Floss says, his Ludwig drum kit sold to Jim Irsay for $2.2 million.

Jack White Paid $300,000 In 2015 For Elvis Presley’s Teenage Recording, Mental Floss Says

Not every valuable record is a famous album. Sometimes it is one lonely disc.

My Happiness by Elvis Presley sold for $300,000 in 2015, bought by Jack White, according to Mental Floss. The article says Presley paid to record it as a teenager and that it is regarded as his first recording.

Vovyl describes it as a single acetate recorded in July 1953 at the Memphis Recording Service for $4, and says it was likely a birthday gift for his mother. White later had copies pressed for the public, so fans can hear it without a fortune.

A Signed Sgt. Pepper Brought $290,000 In 2013, Far Above A $30,000 Hope

Mental Floss reports that a copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967 and signed by all four Beatles, sold for $290,000 in 2013 to a buyer from the Midwest.

The auction expected far less. The article says it was initially expected to fetch $30,000.

That gap shows what a few signatures can do. It also shows why collectors treat condition and originals as everything.

John Lennon Signed This Copy Of Double Fantasy Hours Before His Death, Mental Floss Says

Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono sold for $150,000 in 1999, according to Mental Floss. The article says Lennon signed that copy on December 8, 1980, hours before his death.

The article calls it “quite possibly” the last album he ever signed. It is a sobering piece of music history, and the price reflects that.

For most families, the more useful lesson is to look at any signed records closely, since a signature changes the story a record can tell.

The Butcher Cover Sold Sealed For $125,000 In 2013, Mental Floss Reports

Yesterday & Today by The Beatles was briefly issued in the United States and Japan in 1966 with a butcher-smock cover. Mental Floss says the cover was withdrawn and replaced, which left few originals.

A sealed copy sold at auction in February 2013 for $125,000. Vovyl notes that Capitol Records pasted a new cover over the original on already-pressed copies.

That is why collectors lean in when they see a record with a second cover glued on top.

A Demo Found In An Attic Sold For $104,600 In 2016, Mental Floss Says

The last stop is a story for anyone who has ever cleaned out a closet. Til There Was You, a 10-inch acetate by The Beatles, sold for $104,600 in Warrington, England, in March 2016, per Mental Floss.

The demo was recorded for EMI before Beatlemania. The disc was found in the attic of Les Maguire, a former keyboardist for Gerry and the Pacemakers.

The A-side is “‘Till There Was You” and the B-side is “Hullo Little Girl.” An attic find that paid six figures is exactly the kind of story that keeps collectors digging through old boxes.

Before you sell anything, check what you actually own. Look at the label, the pressing details and any signatures, and compare them with auction results from named sellers. Real value depends on the exact copy, its condition and whether it is an original, and most records in a family collection will not reach these numbers. But a quick look is free, and these seven prove that now and then an old record really is worth a fortune.

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