You’re flicking through a box of old records at an op shop, garage sale or market.

Fleetwood Mac.

Neil Diamond.

ABBA.

Another copy of Grease.

And then you see it.

AC/DC.

Now before you throw it under your arm and sprint towards the counter, there’s something you need to know.

Not every AC/DC record is worth a fortune.

But the right AC/DC record absolutely can be worth picking up.

And here in Australia we have a bit of an advantage, because some of the records collectors around the world hunt for were originally pressed right here.

AC/DC formed in Sydney in 1973 around Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young.

Angus's schoolboy outfit would eventually become one of the most recognisable images in rock music, but in the beginning AC/DC were simply another Australian band trying to get noticed.

The arrival of Bon Scott as lead singer helped change everything.

With Scott out front, AC/DC developed the sound and attitude that would define their early years — loud guitars, simple but enormously effective riffs and songs that sounded as though they belonged in a packed Australian pub.

Their first Australian album, High Voltage, appeared in February 1975, followed later that year by T.N.T.

Then came Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, Powerage and finally Highway to Hell in 1979.

By then AC/DC were no longer merely an Australian success story.

They were becoming one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Bon Scott died in London in February 1980.

For a band whose identity seemed so closely connected to its singer, that could easily have been the end of AC/DC.

Instead, the band recruited English singer Brian Johnson.

The first album of the new era was a little record called…

Released in 1980, it became one of the biggest-selling albums in music history.

AC/DC had somehow survived the loss of an almost irreplaceable frontman and become even bigger.

More than five decades after the band formed, those early Australian records have also become highly collectible.

And that's where things get interesting for resellers.

There's actually a reason AC/DC deserves a place in Behind the Roller Door.

It goes right back to the early days of my eBay selling.

My father-in-law was a record collector and one day gave us a box of records he didn't want anymore.

These weren't even the good ones as far as he was concerned.

He had doubles, and the copies he gave us weren't as good as the ones he'd decided to keep.

Fair enough.

To us they were stock.

I remember there being an AC/DC set amongst them. My memory after all these years was that it was white and possibly a box set containing about five records.

When I recently started digging into AC/DC again for this article, something clicked.

There was a five-album Australian AC/DC box set.

Released in Australia in 1987, the box contained:

There was also an earlier AC/DC Vol. 1 Australian box set from 1981 containing the band's earlier albums.

I can't say with absolute certainty after all these years which version we had.

What I can remember is what happened when we sold it.

This was early in my eBay career, and I remember thinking:

Hang on a minute. People actually pay this sort of money for old records?

That sale helped spark my interest in selling records.

And there's another part of the story I appreciate even more now.

My father-in-law didn't give us his best records.

He gave us the ones he didn't want.

They were duplicates.

They weren't as good as the copies he kept.

To him, they were surplus.

To somebody else, one of them was worth hundreds of dollars.

If you've followed Behind the Roller Door for a while, you'll probably recognise a familiar theme.

Sometimes they might even pay you $900 for it.

There is one important rule before we start:

The title of the album doesn't determine the value — the pressing does.

A common reissue might be worth $30–$50 while an early Australian pressing of the same album can sell for hundreds.

Condition matters enormously as well.

So rather than treating this as a fixed price list, think of it as a BOLO ranking — records that should make you stop flicking through the crate and start investigating.

This is one I'd check very carefully.

The original Australian High Voltage is different from the international album most people know by that name.

Released through Albert Productions in February 1975, it was AC/DC's first album.

Early Australian examples — particularly desirable label and sleeve variations in excellent condition — can command hundreds of dollars.

🔥 STOP AND CHECK IT

Another major AC/DC collector target.

T.N.T. was released in Australia in December 1975 and includes It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll), T.N.T., The Jack, High Voltage and Live Wire.

Early Australian Albert pressings are particularly desirable.

🔥 Definitely investigate.

The original Australian edition has a different cover and track listing from the international release.

Collectors particularly chase early Australian Albert pressings, including desirable label variations.

🔥 A serious BOLO.

Early Australian copies can be very desirable, particularly scarce label variants in excellent condition.

🔥 Never leave an early Australian copy behind without checking it.

This album has another reason collectors want it.

It was the final AC/DC studio album featuring Bon Scott.

Ordinary copies aren't particularly difficult to find, but original Australian Albert pressings in excellent condition are another matter.

🔥 Very good find if it's an early Australian pressing.

Powerage might not have the instant recognition of Back in Black or Highway to Hell, but collectors know it.

Early Australian Albert copies can be surprisingly valuable.

🔥 Sleeper album — check every Australian copy.

And thanks to my father-in-law story, these have earned their own section.

This brought together AC/DC's early Australian catalogue and is now highly collectible, particularly when complete and in excellent condition.

Look for all the original records, the box itself and any inserts or extras.

🚨 MAJOR BOLO

This is possibly the set we sold all those years ago.

It contains five albums from the Brian Johnson era:

Back in Black, For Those About to Rock, Flick of the Switch, Fly on the Wall and Who Made Who.

Complete Australian sets can be valuable enough that this isn't something I'd price casually from a couple of current listings.

🚨 STOP. RESEARCH. THEN PRICE.

Here's another AC/DC rabbit hole worth knowing about.

If you pull an old Australian AC/DC record out of its sleeve and discover a relatively plain white label, don't assume somebody has peeled the proper label off.

You could be looking at a promotional or test pressing.

Some Australian AC/DC white-label pressings are extremely scarce.

A 1975 Australian white-label T.N.T. test/promo pressing has sold for thousands of dollars, as have other exceptionally rare promotional releases.

So add this to the BOLO list:

Don't clean it.

Don't scribble anything on it.

Don't stick it on Marketplace for $20 because “there's no proper label.”

Research it first.

If you're hunting Australian AC/DC records, remember another two words:

Some early Albert Productions records carry a distinctive blue centre label featuring a kangaroo.

Collectors commonly call these Blue Roo pressings.

They're associated with some desirable Australian AC/DC releases.

But don't assume every blue label automatically means you've hit the jackpot.

Check the:

Catalogue number
Matrix/runout numbers
Country
Year
Label design
Sleeve variation
Condition

Then compare it against sold examples — not someone's optimistic $2,000 listing that's been sitting online since Angus Young was still wearing short pants.

There's another trap in record collecting.

You'd think the oldest AC/DC albums would always be the rarest.

Not necessarily.

By the 1990s and early 2000s, CDs had taken over and vinyl production was dramatically lower than during vinyl's heyday.

That means original vinyl copies of albums such as:

The Razors Edge
Ballbreaker
Stiff Upper Lip

can sometimes be much harder to find than albums that sold millions of copies during the vinyl era.

It's a useful reminder:

If I'm standing at an op shop, garage sale or market, these are the things that would make me stop:

🔥 Early Australian AC/DC albums
🔥 Albert Productions labels
🔥 Blue Roo labels
🔥 White-label promos/test pressings
🔥 Original Australian High Voltage
🔥 Original T.N.T.
🔥 Bon Scott-era Australian pressings
🔥 AC/DC Vol. 1 box set
🔥 AC/DC Vol. 2 five-record box set
🔥 Original 1990s/early-2000s vinyl
🔥 Promotional records
🔥 Early singles
🔥 Unusual Australian pressings

This one's pretty simple.

If I saw an Australian AC/DC record for $5 or $10 at an op shop or garage sale?

I'd buy it.

At $20?

I'd probably still buy most early Australian copies.

At $50?

Now I'm checking the pressing and condition first.

At $100?

I'm definitely doing my homework.

Because AC/DC demonstrates one of the most important lessons in reselling collectibles:

Two records can have exactly the same artist and album title.

One might be worth $30.

The other might be worth $300.

And occasionally you'll find the one that makes you wonder why somebody got rid of it in the first place.

Although in my case I already know the answer.

My father-in-law had a better one.

And I'm very glad he did.