Individually numbered, 1000-only. Featuring Total Science, Bladerunner, Dub Motion, A.M.C, Six Blade, L 33, BTK, Maztek, Optiv, KG, Mindscape, Mark System and many more! Rare records are expensive because they are hard to find for various reasons, and not always because they are any good,” laughs Jules who sells records under the user name Dobshizzle on Discogs. “In a lot of cases, if the tunes had been better, or even more popular, more copies would have been pressed. It’s fair to say in some cases prices for certain records can hit high heights because not many people have heard them!”

Plus, for good measure, Jules has pin-pointed 10 equally awesome jungle records that are still for sale under a fiver! Nothing’s a dead cert when it comes to investments but there are certain things that almost guarantee a rise in value; land, immaculately maintained vintage cars and boxed Star Wars toys. Classic jungle vinyl appears to be another one.

One of Ed Rush’s earliest pre-techstep outings, delivered by the aforementioned Jet Star during the ragga revolution of the mid 90s. Very few copies of this white label are in circulation. Probably because those who own it aren’t likely to let it go any time soon. Just listen and you’ll understand why… Where the lines between mythical and actually expensive blur a little… Moving Shadow created a series of picture discs that made up a poster style Moving Shadow logo if you had the full set. The beats came from the very best in the game; Blame, Alex Reece, Deep Blue, Nookie, Roni Size, Krust and many more. Delivered on the hugely influential Jungle Mania, this Marley-sampling promo-pressing has also been known as Dancing Feet in the past. Cooked up in the studio by once-prolific garage don Mark ‘Ruff’ Ryder, his brother Mike James and Steve May who appears to have commented on this upload below! Chatta B’s Terouble Times is one of the label’s sought-after 10 releases and is interesting as it neatly documents the changing tide between the ragga and more soulful sounds some areas of D&B was embracing at the time. Enjoy the contrast in the sample use; the balance of bubbling horns against the heavy ruffage of Badman Tune and that evergreen Mary J Blige sampling on the proto-jump up Notch. 20 years old to the year and still sounding future. Like the book, the album covers the genre’s nineties golden era, and the many styles of D&B are represented. Pioneering producers and crowd-pleasing favourites sit alongside a few sought-after obscurities by the unsung heroes of the scene. Most importantly, there are some absolute bangers!

As a result this list is by no means authoritative. As Jules predicts, it is littered with names you may well not have heard (and a few you have definitely heard of) but it’s a great snapshot of where collectable jungle vinyl is in 2015… And where it’s heading. Fill your boots… XTC & DJ Keen Nottingham – Here I Come / Reload & Come Again (Greensleeves Records) Like Jet Star, Greensleeves weren’t shy in getting the big jungle producers of the day on board. Allowing producers like Congo Natty, Tom & Jerry and Reel ll Reel to feed their huge reggae catalogue into their samplers pretty much guarantees great resultsSelected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. For our final expensive jungle release of the list we’ve dipped below the tonne-belt to pay respect to Redskin Records. While most label’s output will range between releases, Redskin deliveries pulls the most consistently chunky price tags and they appear to be increasing.

I had to find room to squeeze in a classic from Suburban Base somewhere here. This one fits the bill nicely and the remix 12 with another one from the mighty DJ SS is well worth a look too. Everyone knows the classic tune Kenny Ken released on this label called Everyman but this one is great value- especially with that tidy Ray Keith remix on the flip It is not our intention to raise the prices, but it if you do spot the prices going up, bear our opening sentence in mind and make an investment. Hells, these might all spawn from the mid 90s but Jules is seeing a trend in current D&B vinyl too… To celebrate Record Store Day this Saturday – and the fact that Drum&BassArena 2015 comes with a limited vinyl edition this year! – we’ve dusted off the books and explored the darkest corners of the net to get an idea of the most expensive drum & bass records in existence.