Our Vinyl Grading Standards

Here at Cenotaph we do our best to provide an accurate and fair grading for all of our used vinyl. If we have used vinyl listed, rest assured, we have meticulously inspected, cleaned and play tested each piece of vinyl. We take incredible pride in the music we choose to bring to you. Below you will find our standards for vinyl grading, and here is the Goldmine Grading Standard we based our standards off of. 

Mint (M)
100% Factory sealed. As it is sealed, the vinyl is also presumed mint.

Mint Minus/Near Mint (M-/NM)
Vinyl and cover are free of any marks, blemishes or defects. The record might be open, but the vinyl itself appears unplayed and is free of any defects.

Excellent (EX)
This is considered better than VG+ but not quite NM. The vinyl and cover may have minor imperfections, if the vinyl has any surface scratches or scuffs, they will not be "feelers" and certainly Do Not Affect Play (DNAP).

Very Good Plus (VG+)

These records may show slight wear, which include (but are not limited to):
- Light scuffs, very light scratches or surface scratches that DNAP.
- Minor warps that DNAP.
- Minor signs of handling (e.g. marks around the center hole).
- Very light ring wear or discoloration, but barely noticeable.
- Minor wear.
- Cover might have some very minor seam wear.
- Minor seam splits (less than one inch long).
- Cover may have some defacing, (e.g promo cut-outs/notches/markings).
- Small writing is acceptable.

Strong Very Good (SVG)
SVG records will have all of the possible imperfections present with a VG+ record, but some things may be more present. A SVG record will not have wear or imperfections to the degree of VG (or below) records, but may have things that make it better than VG but not quite up to our VG+ standards.

Very Good (VG)
Pretty much every imperfection present on a VG+ record, only a little more noticable.

VG records have more obvious flaws than records in VG+ (or better) shape. Some of the things present include (but are not limited to):
- A loss of much of the original factory gloss on the wax.
- Groove wear will be evident to the naked eye.
- Light scratches might be "feelers" where you're able to feel them with your fingernail.
- Some writing, tape and/or a sticker may be present on the label or cover.
- Covers will display some signs of wear and handling.
- Ring wear will likely be present at the middle and/or along the edges of the cover where the edge of a record lives, but this will not display as overwhelming. - Creases might be visible.
- Seam splits might be present and be more obvious than on a VG+ record; additionally, they may appear on all three sides, however (if present) they won’t be too obvious at first glance.
- During play a VG record is likely to have some surface noise, some scratches may be audible, especially during a song’s intro and ending and in quieter portions of some songs. That said, this noise will not overpower the music music itself, audible in quiet or silent portions ONLY.

Good (G),
Good Plus (G+),
Poor (P),
Fair (F),
We will not put these types of records out for sale. If they are sold, they will be sold in a DEEP discount bin at the shop ONLY!