Albums

Where's Herbal Dave when you need him?

reality is 75%+ of most stashes are generally unsellable at any price because of title or condition

"good" records still really need to be properly cleaned before they can be accurately evaluated for condition

some albums (even in thrashed condition) can still be worth a few hundred dollars

sorting (and moving, and storing, and cleaning, and cataloging) 3500 albums is a ton of work, even for someone proficient in these things

Discogs is your friend.  I just cataloged our collection over this past winter using that app when everything is dark, cold, and rainy in the PNW.  Check it out.  Very user friendly and gives you all the estimated values and geeky info on each album. 

Will be adding the five albums I picked up down in Florida.

That's quite the inheritance, Tim.

Sounds like some solid Jazz and Rock titles.  If you have clean, flawless (Near Mint) original copies of classic titles, even with less than perfect covers, they will sell for decent money because the demand is so high for those titles.  Similarly, as Bss mentioned, there are more offbeat titles, that never sold in great quantities, that still sell for bucks with diminished covers, because they are considered musically noteworthy and there aren't many copies available. 

It sounds like you are more interested in exploring your brothers' collection than cashing in on it, which is a noble and commendable approach.  Given you're in a flood prone region of the country, try to store them off the floor if you can.  To assuage your wife's concerns about space, maybe separate out the titles you're unsure if you want to keep, and prioritize listening to those.  You'll undoubtedly discover some pleasant surprises you'll want to hold onto, and the more underwhelming ones you can sell or give away.  That should at least acknowledge the Missus' concerns.  Even if no dealer will pay you for them, you can always donate them to a non-profit like Goodwill for a tax write-off at whatever they charge to their records, which is usually at least a buck a piece.

Have fun checking out and listening to your wonderful gift!

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Our (very good, very eclectic) public radio station (91.9 on the dial, KRVM.org on the net) takes donations of albums. Some they play, some they sell at their yearly fundraising record sale. Do you have something like that?

KRVM ("The "V" is for variety") has high school students as DJ's during school days playing what they enjoy (yes, some teacher supervision) and specialty shows nights, overnight, weekends. It's a remarkably good station.

Ken, thanks for the discogs app info. I sold my turntable before the last move along with a bunch of LPs of little worth at a garage sale. I still have a large Zappa collection, and a bunch of other good stuff on LP and it's about time I separate from it and get it in the hands of people that will use them. 

Much of the Ellington archives were lost in a fire if I remember correctly, original master tapes. So many of his titles are no longer available and cannot be re-issued.

I'm a big fan of Ellington, he fits the Zappa mold in that he was writing for whatever band he had at the time. Also a conductor, composer, arranger. I think the deeper you dig, the more you will get into him. And yes, the '56 Monterey Jazz concert is exceptional. The crowd was so crazy, they tried to get him to stop early, but he refused.

Used record shop owners are ruthless capitalists.

You're better off giving the albums away rather than selling  them to those scumbags.