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Freedom vinyl value

Freedom — Santana album cover
Prices for this album are still being collected: our eBay tracker quotes a pressing only after at least three live listings match it. The pressings and identification below are complete.

Santana — Freedom: pressings we track

PressingCatalogCountryNotes
1987 CBS450394 1Australia—
1987 CBSCBS 450394 1Europe—
1987 CBS/Sony28AP 3292Japan—
1987 CBS/Sony28AP 3292JapanPromo
1987 CBS450394 1UK—
1989 CBSASF 3144South Africa—
2019 Music On VinylMOVLP2370EuropeReissue, 180 gram
Undated CBS462523 1Europe—

9 pressings tracked, 8 shown · catalog of 974,753 releases, August 2026

What separates the pressings

Originals, 19874 first-year pressings (UK, Europe, Australia, Japan); any of them is an original. Runout on the UK copy starts “450394 1A*”.
Collector variants1987 Japan: Promo. Scarce on purpose; collectors pay for that.
JapanPressed to high standards and collected separately; a copy with the original obi strip is a different record to collectors than one without.
Reissues, 2019Easy to find, priced as a listening copy.

How to identify your copy

Three checks, in the order worth doing them.

  1. 1

    Match the catalog number. It is printed on the spine and the record label. Check it together with the country against the pressings table above: the same number can appear in more than one country.

  2. 2

    Read the runout. The code etched in the dead wax near the label names the exact pressing. On the 1987 UK pressing it reads “450394 1A*” on side one and “450394 2B*” on side two. Trust the etching over the jacket: covers get traded around, dead wax stays put.

  3. 3

    Grade the condition. A clean copy and a worn one of the same pressing sit several grades, and several multiples, apart. Grade record and sleeve separately; see our grading guide.

Do not price the cover. A later disc in a 1987 jacket is a reissue, whatever the sleeve says: the pressing lives in the runout etching and on the label.

Questions

Which pressing of Freedom is worth the most?

The 1987 originals lead. Scarcer variants (the 1987 “Promo”) can beat an ordinary early copy. After that it is all condition: the gap between near mint and VG is usually larger than the gap between pressings.

How do I tell if I have a 1987 original?

Match the catalog number on the spine and label against the table above, check the country, then read the etched code in the runout groove. On the 1987 UK pressing the runout reads “450394 1A*”. A period jacket with a later disc inside is still a reissue.

How much is Freedom worth today?

Market prices move, so a static number goes stale fast. Scan the record in the RecordScout app: it identifies your exact pressing from the label and shows a current value range for its condition.

Not sure which pressing you have? Photograph the label and RecordScout names it, then shows a current value range for its condition.

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