More Slivers

Towards the end of last year I finally picked up a copy of the Nirvana 'Sliver / Dive' 7" that I had wanted for years. I used to have a copy in the early 90s and sold it, and have regretted that for quite some time. Anyway, obtaining a copy last year then led to a mini obsession, and I found myself checking eBay for additional copies for sale almost daily. In my opinion, eBay is better than discogs for records by big bands as there were large numbers of copies pressed and lots that would have made their way to the UK. Generally there are plenty of copies of this record on eBay at all times, but the main challenge is to find one for a fair price.

Well anyway, I got pretty lucky a couple of months back when I spotted a blue vinyl copy for auction sat a good price. I watched it for a few days and then (as always) bid in the last few seconds, and to my surprise I won it for a lot less than I expected. I managed to win this for around £28, whereas it will usually sell on discogs for £150-200. I'm not really sure why this was the case. Perhaps this was because it ended on a Sunday evening, or perhaps it was because the listing put people off in some way, but I was very happy with the result regardless.

This is a slightly weird version, as it appears to be a first press blue vinyl copy in second press sleeve. But it is a legit variation. There are a few of them out there.

In addition to the above copy, I also got outbid on a couple of more recent pressings which somehow sold for higher prices, and they also sold on eBay for more than they usually sell for on discogs. I can only think this is because they are more recent US pressings, and no doubt fewer of these made it over the pond. So the more recent colour pressings sell for more in the UK than they would do in the States. As soon as I was outbid, I realised that I needed to buy them from the States to avoid significantly overpaying. So that's what I did.

First up is a Newbury Comics exclusive from 2015. This blue/pink split vinyl is out of 1,000 copies.

Next is another Newbury Comics exclusive that was released in 2018. There were 500 copies of this blue / clear split vinyl.

And another Newbury Comics exclusive from 2018 also out of 500 copies, this one is the clear / pink split vinyl.

And finally, I also grabbed this more recent 'silver' (aka grey) vinyl pressing. This one is limited to 1,000 copies and was exclusive to a record store in Portland, Oregon called Jackpot Records.

This is such an addictive record to try to collect as there are a lot of colours out there, and some very subtle differences between some of them. Attention to detail is a must. But kinda funny that prior to October last year I did not own a single copy of this record, and then thanks to some time searching and a bit of luck, I now find myself with 10 copies. Here's a nice square photo showing the 9 Sub Pop copies I have acquired (the 10th copy I have is a crappy UK pressing with different labels so I opted to leave it out for aesthetic reasons).

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but there are still at least another 6 colours that I can go after, although from this point forward it will in theory become a much slower and more expensive game, and is likely to roll on for years to come. But hey, that's what this game is about, right?