Many Led Zeppelin fans end up with collections that include specific focuses. For some fans, that might be rare vinyl singles, posters or concert tickets.

Oleg Korsunskiy, a fan and collector who lives in Tallinn, Estonia, has amassed a remarkable Led Zeppelin collection that includes more than 400 vinyl copies of Led Zeppelin’s debut album.

Korsunskiy has catalogued 402 different vinyl copies of the band’s first album, making him the owner of what is likely to be the world’s largest collection of pressings of that album. Along with that collection, he has also amassed an expansive collection of Led Zeppelin tribute albums which he showcases online.

LedZepNews spoke to Korsunskiy about his Led Zeppelin collection to understand how he tracked down some incredibly rare pressings and to learn what other fans should look out for when buying their own pressings of the band’s debut album.

Korsunskiy’s focus on Led Zeppelin’s debut album began in early 2009, he explains. “I found that I had about 15-20 different first albums,” he says. “I decided to show them on the www.ledzeppelin.ru forum.”

“As I only have an A4 scanner and LP sleeves didn’t fit into it, I asked my good friend Dmitry to help,” he says. “I was scanning sleeves in four portions each side and he combined them together. For 15 years since then he has been helping me. My great thanks to him.”

“We started to scan my disks and I started to buy more and more LPs. After half a year we scanned about 50 albums and about 20 were still not scanned, so we decided to start to publish them,” Korsunskiy continues.

The collection now encompasses 402 different variations but he says he isn’t sure how many copies he actually owns. “No one believes me when I answer ‘I don’t know’”, he says. He estimates he now owns between 420 and 430 copies of the debut album.

Highlights of Korsunskiy’s collection include a test pressing which he proudly refers to in an email as his “most mystical one”. The record’s handwritten label has the album’s Atlantic catalogue number of 588171, “31st March 1969” and what appears to be an early Jimmy Page signature.

It’s likely this is an extremely rare test pressing of the album that was signed by Page. “UK promos themselves are very rare, but Jimmy Page’s signature makes it unique,” Korsunskiy says.

Other rarities include two different versions of the US-made Presswell Records promo pressing. “I have seen only one of them on the web,” he says.

As well as rare and valuable pressings, the collection also includes some unusual versions of Led Zeppelin’s debut album such as a Taiwanese pressing identified as CSJ-846.

“CSJ-846 was pressed practically every month and they have the date in the ROC calendar on it,” Korsunskiy says. “The earliest I have is 58 7, which means July 1969. But on the 60 2 (February 1971) pressing the band name is Vanilla Fudge. How can they make such a mistake after two years of printing labels with the same design?”

Other curiosities in the collection include the UK pressing UK K 40031 that can be identified by a single letter marked on the label. “It’s not rare at all, but some copies have a small ‘v’ on the label,” Korsunskiy says. “This seems to be the pressing plant, like ‘Q’ on Canadian pressings, but I couldn’t find any info on it and what particular plant it is.”

“Not many people know that Atlantic among its common pressing plants also used MGM Record Mfg. Division, Bloomfield, NJ (MG),” he explains. “It’s the only label that has ‘SD 8216’ on the left side.”

Many fans are aware of how to identify early pressings of the debut album which were issued with turquoise text on the sleeve and a grey stripe along the bottom of the cover. Over the years, estimates of how many copies of these pressings exist have ranged from as few as 2,000 copies to more than 10,000.

“We know that this one has uncorrected matrix numbers on the run out and we know two main label variants of it. The third variant also exists, but there were very, very few of them,” Korsunskiy says.

“From one lacquer, up to 1,000 copies can be made. From this point of view, there were 2,000 made, but we see them on sale on eBay practically permanently, so my estimate is 10,000,” he says.

Even though his collection has grown to more than 400 pressings, Korsunskiy still has some rarities he’s hunting down. There are “many, many others” he’s keen to acquire, he tells LedZepNews.

His wish list includes a “Vietnam copy, a Japan SMT 1067 promo, Argentina first editions with ‘RT’ on label (I don’t even know how many different labels had it), and an Australian copy with the same design as their promo. I bought it two times and both were misprints. It was nice, but I need a regular copy also,” Korsunskiy says.

Another rare version of the debut album that some fans may be familiar with is the early Japanese pressing which manages to mislabel three out of the four band members. Some early copies were issued with stickers correcting the misprint.

“Some years ago it was really rare, but now I see many of them selling,” Korsunskiy says. “By the way, the sleeve with the correction stickers is much more rare than without them, so removing them is the wrong idea.”

The breadth of Korsunskiy’s collection brings to mind the art project We Buy White Albums, in which artist Rutherford Chang acquired more than 3,400 copies of The Beatles’ white album.

“Their life is much easier than mine,” Korsunskiy says. “If you have enough money, simply buy all numbered copies and that’s all.”

If other fans are keen to collect copies of Led Zeppelin’s debut album, what should they look out for? He has some helpful advice.

“It depends on whether you are collecting or going to listen to it. If you’re going to listen to it, you don’t need a turquoise sleeve. Simply buy the UK red/plum or US George Piros mastering or the Classic Records 200G edition,” he says.

“If you like a more modern sound, then the 2013 reissue is for you. Read the Steve Hoffman forum and you’ll get tons of useful info,” he adds.

With thanks to Mark McFall of Zepfan for kindly introducing LedZepNews to Korsunskiy.

Follow Led Zeppelin News on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on news as it happens. You can also sign up to our email for a digest of the latest news sent to your inbox. LedZepNews uses paid Amazon referral links to earn commissions to cover its costs.