This one gets complicated. Bear with me here.
First Pressing
The initial pressing of the Sliver 7" had blue marble and black pressings, and came with foldover sleeves with singles club forms attached. The labels and sleeves did not mention Erika Records. Sub Pop says the first 3,000 were on blue marble vinyl. If the pressing pattern of the time holds true, there were probably either 3,500 and 4,000 black ones. Word of warning: the black first pressing was bootlegged. Real ones are super cheap now, so not a major danger, but be aware.
Pressing 1b: There are several versions of the the Sliver single that have first pressing labels (with no mention of Erika Records). First, we have the clear pink ones. These are generally considered to be part of the first pressing. They are a darker pink than the second pressing clear pink ones. Most of these came in a version of the first pressing sleeve (the foldover paper sleeve). However, some came with Singles Club forms attached, and others did not, and not just because the form had been torn off and lost in time. Some were just made without the form.
Next, we have the legendary white vinyl copies. These are terribly rare and are some of the most collectible Nirvana records. They had first pressing labels, but came in second pressing sleeves (full glossy sleeves, sealed on three sides, with Erika Records information on the backs). The story I've heard is that not many of these were made, and they were only made available to the band and employees of Sub Pop or Erika Records. When they hit the market, they were mostly found in a single record store in Los Angeles. Over the years, the price of these has fluctuated. There were enough of these in circulation that the price stayed stable in the $400-500 range for a number of years, but then...it disappeared. None were sold publicly for about a decade. As a result, demand spiked and the price went with it when it sold in 2018.
Still going with 1b. There are also clear blue copies. These can get confused with the first pressing blue records, but those were an opaque blue. These were not. As with the white copies, these blue ones also had first pressing labels and (mostly) second pressing sleeves. The color ranges from a straight blue to a teal color. They are not particularly hard to come by. This was also the version of the Sliver 7" that came packaged with the red and white splatter version of the Bleach LP.
Oh yeah, and then the red one happened. After years of rumors, one of these surfaced in 2008. When it was auctioned, I assumed it was just a particularly dark version of the pink first press. The person who bought it proved otherwise. I've seen pictures from the owner (beyond the one below) that convinced me. It definitely has some pink mixed in with it, but...it's red.
Alright, let's talk first generation pricing. The blue marble first pressings had stayed stable for a long time, but started rising with the pandemic and have been on an upward trajectory ever since. Clear blue ones have been all over the place, but a few have gone for crazy high prices. Black copies have been extremely stable. Clear pink first generation pressings have stayed relatively stable, but that seems weird to me. This may just be a function of very few sales and sellers pricing them too low. I would bet that this one will start rising. The white ones have surprised me a bit. While other high-end Nirvana records have have been exploding in value since 2020, the few white Sliver singles that have sold have been for very consistent prices. Here are your first generation charts. I split the white one into its own so that it didn't skew the scale too much.
Second Generation Pressings
This is where it gets messy. (Wait, THIS is where it gets messy?!?) These versions had full, glossy sleeves, sealed on three sides, and most (not all) had Erika Records credits on the back. These had Erika Records credits on the labels as well. Colors include: black, light blue w/ black (and some white and pink) marbling, orange marble, peach, yellow, clear blue/teal, pink, pink marble, and clear. It is often difficult to tell the difference between the orange and peach ones from pictures. If you examine them up close, though, the peach version is partially translucent, while the orange one is a completely solid marbled orange. Orange and hot pink marble are both very scarce versions of the Sliver single, perhaps even more so than clear, which has classically sold for more.
The prices for some of the 2nd generation colors have been strange. Some have risen, some have remained remarkably stable. The pink marble version prices have risen faster than all others since 2019. The clear copies, after dropping for a few years, have been going back up as well. Clear blue has been headed steadily upward. The yellow one has been on a slow rise. The orange marble one is weird...some have sold for extremely high prices, but the trends have been thrown off by a couple of listings that were advertised poorly. As far as I can tell, the orange one is trending upward, but you may have a chance to find an occasional deal for poorly listed copy. The others - peach marble, light blue with black/white/pink marbling, clear pink, and black - have all remained relatively stable. In my opinion, the black second generation pressing remains the most undervalued version of Sliver. It is fairly rare, but because 1) it is on black vinyl and 2) the black 1st press is so common, I think it gets overlooked. To the chart...I removed the trend lines from this one because they made the chart hard to decipher.
Third Generation Pressings
These had full sleeves with the late-90's era black Sub Pop labels. Very common. There are some variants, though. Some have the song titles in capital letters on both sides, some on one side, others neither. Most have the same matrix codes as previous pressings, but versions made from new lacquers cut by Golden surfaced with this batch as well. There were many, many pressings made with the black labels, with all kind of variations. Some were made with stampers made from the kdisc lacquers, others came from the Golden lacquers, and some used one of each. There were many label variants as well - some had the song titles in capital letters, others were mixed case, and some had the title in caps on one side and mixed case on the other. I have not split these variants out for pricing purposes. They all sell for about the same prices. Again, there were many different pressings in this era because the record was a consistent seller. That's why I call it "third generation" instead of "third pressing".
Fourth Generation Pressings
I call this a fourth generation pressing just based on the patterns of some other Sub Pop releases. The vinyl is exactly like the third generation, except that the sleeves were of the foldover variety, on thick card stock. You could really probably lump these in with the third generation, but they didn't show up until many years later, so I've separated them out. There is some variation to the sleeves - some had bar codes, others had no bar codes. Prices for both the 3rd and 4th generation pressings have mostly stayed stable. 3rd generation ones are creeping upward.
Fifth Generation Pressings
Done? Nope. There was a fifth variety. Sub Pop went back to the classic yellow labels, but the band name was much larger on them. They stuck with the thick-stock sleeves for these. Then, Newbury Comics jumped on board with some exclusives. They did two runs of the Sliver single. First, in 2015, they pressed 1,000 copies on split blue and pink vinyl. This one surfaced with both the classic kdisc matrix codes and the GOLDEN ones. Then, in 2018, Newbury Comics did it again, this time with two more versions: 500 copies each on split blue/clear and split clear/pink vinyl. In 2021, we got another store exclusive, this time from Jackpot Records in Portland. This one was 1,000 copies on silver vinyl (which really came out looking grey). Values for all of these pressings have either stayed mostly stable or have risen slowly. The silver ones have actually come down a little bit as the hype settled from the initial release. They will probably start to get more expensive over time as well.
International Pressings
There were three UK editions of Sliver that came out early on: a black 12", a blue 12", and an olive green 7". They are all pretty common. The prices for the Tupelo versions went up slightly, but have remained stable for several years. Then came two fun Central American promo 7"s: one from Costa Rica and one from Mexico. Those two are quite rare and can be very expensive. Pricing can be very strange with these. Most Costa Rica sales have been for around $100, but two went for a lot more (not at consistent times). The prices for the Mexico one speaked in 2020 and has sold for less when it has sold in the years since.
| Version | Value ($) | Scarcity | Price Trending |
|---|---|---|---|
| First (and 1b) Generation Pressings | |||
| SP73 Blue Marble | 100-150 | 1 | Up |
| SP73 Black | 25-35 | 1 | Stable |
| SP73 Pink | 160-200 | 7 | Stable |
| SP73 Clear Blue/Teal | 65-150 | 5 | Volatile |
| SP73 White | 1400-1700 | 10 | Stable |
| SP73 Red | ? | 10 | Up |
| Second Generation Pressings | |||
| SP73 Clear | 200-275 | 8 | Up / Volatile |
| SP73 Orange Marble | 150-300 | 9 | Volatile |
| SP73 Pink Marble | 250-300 | 8 | Up / Volatile |
| SP73 Light Blue w/ White/Black Marbling | 70-90 | 6 | Stable |
| SP73 Peach Marble | 90-110 | 6 | Stable |
| SP73 Yellow | 110-150 | 5 | Up |
| SP73 Clear Blue/Teal (2nd Labels) | 90-110 | 5 | Up |
| SP73 Clear Pink (2nd Labels) | 45-60 | 3 | Stable |
| SP73 Black (2nd Labels) | 20-30 | 5 | Stable |
| Third Generation Pressings | |||
| SP73 Black | 20-25 | 1 | Stable |
| SP73 Black (Golden pressing) | 10-15 | 2 | Stable |
| Fourth Generation Pressing - Thick Stock Sleeve | |||
| SP73 Black (Golden pressing) | 8-12 | 2 | Stable |
| SP73 Black (Erika pressing) | 6-10 | 1 | Stable |
| Fifth Generation Pressings | |||
| SP73 Black | 10-15 | 1 | Stable |
| SP73 Blue/Pink Split | 35-40 | 3 | Stable |
| SP73 Blue/Clear Split | 30-35 | 4 | Stable |
| SP73 Clear/Pink Split | 35-40 | 4 | Up |
| SP73 Silver | 25-30 | 3 | Down |
| International Pressings | |||
| TUP 25 7" Green | 25-35 | 3 | Stable |
| TUPEP 25 12" Blue | 30-40 | 1 | Stable |
| TUPEP 25 12" Black | 20-30 | 1 | Stable |
| Geffen 71022392 Black (Costa Rica Promo) | 100-175 | 8 | Volatile |
| Geffen RX-1226 (Mexico Promo) | 200-250 | 9 | Down / Volatile |
| First Generation Pressings | ||
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| Second Generation Pressings | ||
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| Third/Fourth/Fifth Generation Pressings | ||
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| International Pressings | ||
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| Sleeve: | 1st pressing: Paper foldover w/ insert attached 2nd pressing: Full glossy 3rd pressing: Full glossy 4th/5th pressing: Thick-stock paper foldover |
|---|---|
| Test Pressing: | Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels. |
| Credits: | Enrico - red image |
This page was last updated on August 12, 2024.