"For every collector, there is a record that stands for everything totally insane about record collecting. This is the one for which nothing less will do than owning every copy, all the copies in the world, if that were possible; the one for which the idea of the perfect copy is reserved: not just unplayed and unblemished, not merely clean and unworn, but a child of the right matrix, stamped on a day the ingenious craftsman knew the joy of creation and every move was true. We never give up hope that the next one we find will be the very one we know must be out there: the perfect copy of the most superb recording of the greatest performance of the most wonderful music, just waiting to be found."

Ron Penndorf is a world renowned record collector extraordinaire of fine vintage LPs, a musician and writer. He publishes the excellent Recollections magazine. Ron sells vintage LPs and writes an online journal of recorded music. At the early days he was selling records on Berkeley's telegraph Ave at; Campus Records, later at Record City, and Moe's Books in Berkeley in the 70s. Ron is also a community organizer and writes about Berkeley events and goings on at, and a proud owner of Fine Vintage Motorcycles.

Ron Penndorf is known for his strict rule of record grading; "As important as the ability to judge the great performance or the excellent recording, is the ability to judge the condition of the record itself. That is, the ability to accurately grade records. This skill, like the ability to hear the great performance or recording, is acquired. It is developed by combining knowledge of record manufacturing techniques with hours of listening."..."It is impossible to visually grade a record. It is absolutely necessary to listen to a record in order to evaluate it. Further, to most successfully grade a record, the record should be listened to on a system that is musical and yet reveals defects." 

From the Collection of Harold Lawrencehe to the Richard Adelman collection, RCA, Columbia, Mercury Living Presence, classical, Jazz and more. Ron Penndorf's Labelography immensely useful for its pictures of labels of US issued LPs, such as Columbia, RCA, Mercury, London. It includes detailed descriptions so that you can see which the original label for a particular issue is.

Mary Morris Lawrence photos and/or Harold Lawrence stories about recorded music among many other essential articles can be found on the Journal of recorded music at; ronpenndorf.com