The Velvet Underground & Nico Vinyl Value Guide: First Pressings, Prices & What It's Worth (2026)

Value depends on four things, in this order: when it was pressed, whether the banana sticker is there and unpeeled, mono or stereo, and condition. A rough guide that holds across the sales we could verify:

• Reissues from the 1970s onward (printed banana, no sticker) and every modern 180-gram LP are listening copies. Buy them for the music.
• 1968–1972 US Verve represses with the airbrushed back cover sit between the two. They are original-era records, but not the first pressing.
• 1967 US first pressings with the Eric Emerson back cover and a complete banana are where the money is. Two clean copies sold on eBay for $6,767 and $8,500 in May 2025. A copy with a damaged or missing sticker is worth far less than one with the sticker intact.

We do not publish a price for each grade: the number of public sales is too small to support one. Instead, the sales table below lists the results we could check, with the source and date. Grade the record and the sleeve separately with Goldmine-standard grading before you compare yours with them.

Start with the catalogue number on the spine, the back cover and the labels:

• V-5008 (printed V/5008 on some labels): mono. The one collectors want most: on Discogs about 8,300 users have the 1967 East Coast mono on their wantlist, against about 4,400 for the most common 1967 stereo.
• V6-5008 (printed V6/5008 on some labels): stereo. This is the number most US copies carry, from 1967 through the 1970s represses.

A common mistake online is to call V6-5008 the mono. It is not: the "6" marks stereo, as on other Verve LPs of the period. Some later stereo jackets carry both numbers, and Discogs lists several 1970s copies where a stereo cover holds a mono record or the other way round, so always check the label as well as the sleeve.

The labels on 1967 stock copies read "MGM RECORDS - A DIVISION OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER, INC." around the rim. Promotional copies have their own labels (see below).

The quickest way to date a US copy is the photo of the band on the back. On the first pressings, an image projected during the band's multimedia shows appears upside down behind them, and it includes the actor Eric Emerson. Emerson had not given permission and threatened to sue. MGM, Verve's parent company, recalled copies and stopped distribution until the image could be removed. That gives three back covers, in this order:

1. Emerson "torso" cover: the image is visible. This is the first state, and the one collectors pay most for.
2. Sticker cover: covers already printed went out with a large black sticker over the Emerson image.
3. Airbrushed cover: on new printings the image was airbrushed out. Discogs files these as later 1967–1968 represses.

All three are 1967-era gatefolds with the banana sticker on the front. If your back cover shows no Emerson image and no sticker, you have the airbrushed version or a later reissue. Our guide to first pressing identification explains this kind of evidence for any album.

Verve had the record pressed on both coasts, and the two families look different. Discogs documents them in detail:

Stereo copies carry MGS-558 on side 1 and MGS-559 on side 2, for example V6-5008 Side-1 MGS 558 Rev. The "REV" matters. The test pressing from November 1966 has no "Sunday Morning"; the song was added as the opening track and side 1 was recut, so stock copies carry REV on side 1. Discogs lists an early East Coast stereo mispress whose side 1 lacks REV and plays without "Sunday Morning", although the label lists it.

There is no MGM-V6-5008-1A style matrix and no "STERLING" stamp on the 1967 records. Sterling Sound appears only on the 1985 remastered reissue.

The front cover is Andy Warhol's banana, printed as a peelable sticker with the words "Peel slowly and see" next to it. Under the sticker is a flesh-coloured banana printed on the sleeve. The sticker is on all the 1967 US covers, whichever back cover they have. What happens to value:

• Complete and unpeeled: the best case. Both May 2025 eBay sales ($6,767 and $8,500) were copies with a complete sticker.
• Peeled but still present, torn or repaired: still a first pressing, but buyers pay much less. A mono Emerson copy whose banana had three repaired cuts sold for $1,000 on eBay in January 2012 (archived on Popsike).
• Missing: a large drop. The cover is incomplete.

Most reissues from the 1970s onward have the banana printed flat on the cover, with no sticker. Some modern editions add a sticker again, so a sticker alone does not prove a 1967 copy: check the catalogue number, the back cover and the runout too.

Promotional copies. Verve sent out mono promos on both coasts. Discogs lists a West Coast white label marked "D.J. Sample / Not for sale" and an East Coast yellow label marked "Disc Jockey Record / NOT FOR SALE", both with the Emerson back cover and the banana sticker. The top eBay sale in Goldmine's May 2025 report was one of the yellow East Coast promos. See our guide to promos, white labels and test pressings.

The 1966 test pressing. Discogs documents a single-sided stereo test pressing dated 2 November 1966, with runout V6-5008 SIDE-1 MGS-558 and no "Sunday Morning".

The Scepter acetate. In April 1966 engineer Norman Dolph cut an acetate of the band's early session recordings at Scepter Studios in New York; it holds different takes and mixes of songs from the album. One copy was found at a New York street sale in 2002 and bought for 75 cents (The Globe and Mail, May 2005). An eBay auction in December 2006 ended at $155,401, but the winning bidder did not pay; the acetate was then sold for $25,200. It was offered again through Shuga Records in July 2014 (Paul Fraser Collectibles, May 2014). It is a one-off, not a version of the LP you can own, and it says nothing about the value of a regular copy.

• UK: Verve VLP 9184 (mono) and SVLP 9184 (stereo), 1967. Not a gatefold and no banana sticker: the front of the UK sleeve is the back of the US cover, without Emerson. Printed by Garrod & Lofthouse. Discogs lists a mono variant whose side 2 label misprints the number as "V500B".
• Canada: Verve V 5008(C), 1967. Made by Quality Records in Toronto, non-gatefold, with the Emerson image on the front.
• Germany: Verve 710 004, 1967. Pressed for Deutsche Grammophon in imported US Emerson covers; some carry a "Stereo 710 004" sticker over the US number.

Discogs lists no 1967 Japanese LP; the earliest dated Japanese vinyl is Verve MV 2060 from 1973.

Discogs lists 259 vinyl versions of The Velvet Underground & Nico. The table below picks the ones a reader needs to tell apart: the test pressing, the 1967 first pressings by country, coast and back cover, the promos, the first repress, and the reissues that matter. Runout shown is side 1.

Discogs community counts give a sense of scale: about 2,400 users list the 1967 East Coast mono with the Emerson cover, and about 1,800 list the 1967 stereo. That is uncommon next to most 1960s rock records, but not a few dozen.

• Early-1970s US Verve V6-5008: gatefold with the banana printed, not peelable. Runouts like V6-5008 MGS-558-1-11-1.
• UK MGM 2315 056 (1971): a Polydor-made reissue with the MGM label. Not to be confused with the 1971 double compilation Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground featuring Nico (MGM 2683 006 in the UK), which is a different album.
• UK Polydor SPELP 20 (1983) and Polydor 2459 358 in Germany: two of the most widely owned reissues on Discogs.
• US Verve 823 290-1 (1985): remastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, with "STERLING" in the runout and notes by Kurt Loder.
• Verve V6-5008, 180 g (2000): cut by David Cheppa at Better Quality Sound, pressed by Rainbo; no "Peel Slowly And See" on the cover.
• Verve V-5008 mono (2004): limited mono reissue pressed by Rainbo, pastel-yellow cover without a peelable banana, hype sticker "Finally The Original Mono Version".
• 45th Anniversary LP, Verve 371 710-8 (2012): 180 g, cut by John Dent, pressed by GZ in the EU, and repressed several times since.

All of these are worth what a new or used reissue costs. If you want the album to play, any of the modern LPs will do; if you want a collectable, it has to be a 1967 copy. Our original pressing vs reissue guide covers how to tell them apart in general.

These are the results we could verify. Each one names the source and date:

We found no auction or press record of a regular 1967 LP selling above $10,000; the highest documented LP sale is $8,500 for the East Coast promo (eBay, May 2025, reported by Goldmine). For selling a copy of your own, see how to sell vinyl records.

1. Catalogue number: V-5008 (mono) or V6-5008 (stereo)? Another number means a reissue or a non-US edition.
2. Back cover: Emerson image visible, covered by a sticker, or airbrushed?
3. Label: "Side 1/Side 2" (East Coast) or "Side A/Side B" (West Coast)? White or yellow promo label?
4. Runout: MG 558 (mono) or MGS-558 (stereo), with REV on side 1?
5. Banana: sticker present, unpeeled, undamaged?

If you would rather not read dead wax under a lamp, photograph the label with VinylAI: it matches your copy to its Discogs pressing and adds it to your collection.