RecordScoutGet the app

The Original Musiquarium 1 vinyl value

The Original Musiquarium 1 — Stevie Wonder 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.

Stevie Wonder — The Original Musiquarium 1: pressings we track

PressingCatalogCountryNotes
1986 MotownZL72133(2)EuropeCompilation, Reissue
1986 MotownRMTL 4001-02JapanCompilation, Reissue, GATEFOLD
1986 MotownRMTL 4001-02JapanCompilation, Promo, Reissue
1988 MotownZL 72133 (2)ItalyCompilation, Reissue
2017 Tamla0602557409499EuropeCompilation, Reissue, 180 Gram
2017 TamlaB0026361-01USCompilation, Reissue, Gatefold
Undated Tamla0602557409499EuropeCompilation, Reissue, 180 Gram

7 pressings tracked · catalog of 974,753 releases, August 2026

What separates the pressings

Oldest we track, 1986First released 1982; our table starts at 1986 (Motown, Europe). A copy older than 1986 predates everything here. Treat it as the find.
Collector variants1986 Japan: Compilation, Promo, Reissue. Pressed in small numbers, and priced accordingly.
JapanPressed to high standards and collected separately; a copy with the original obi strip is a different record to collectors than one without.
Reissues, 2017+2 pressings. Easy to find, priced as listening copies.

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 1986 Europe pressing it reads “DM E-0738 A-1/5-86” on side one and “DM E-0738 B-1/5-86 II” on side two. Sleeves migrate between copies over the years; the etching stays with the record.

  3. 3

    Grade the condition. Condition multiplies the price: near mint can bring several times what a VG copy does. Vinyl and sleeve get separate grades; the scale is in our grading guide.

Discs and jackets part ways over the decades: a 1982 sleeve proves nothing about the record inside it. The runout etching and the label decide the pressing; the cover never does.

Questions

Which pressing of The Original Musiquarium 1 is worth the most?

Original 1982 pressings lead; they predate everything in our table, and that scarcity is the point. Among tracked copies, the 1986 pressings come first. Scarcer variants (the 1986 “Compilation, Promo, Reissue”) 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 which pressing I have?

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 1986 Europe pressing the runout reads “DM E-0738 A-1/5-86”. A period jacket with a later disc inside is still a reissue.

How much is The Original Musiquarium 1 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.

Open in the App StoreFree to try, iPhone, no account.
More from Stevie Wonder