500 albums in a basement flood--worth saving?


Hi--just had 6' high (relatively clean) water fill basement during recent hurricane/tropical storm. Lost everything down there including 500 albums: some late 60's rock, 70's & early 80's rock, some jazz and a few classical, most in pretty good shape prior to this. Couple of Original Master Recordings. No turntable at the moment. Insurance not covering.  Question: is it worth peeling/discarding album covers, buying 500 new sleeves, buying record cleaning machine (lots of time & labor), or just toss the lot?  Are they worth anything without the covers, just inner sleeves (what type are best, paper or plastic?)?  What is average value?  TIA.
 
tt1man

Showing 1 response by asvjerry

500 of Anything is more than 'a couple of hours' to do properly...
...especially 'manually'....

Triage time:  Decide what you really want to keep.
Take pics of the covers if they're not too shot.
Labels too, unless you've got the leisure to drag the net for the info.
Do 10~20 a day.  You already have a life, and you're not a pro curator.

Used to live in Houston....been there, did that.
Fortunately, not that many....