Still Waiting For Answers on Nautiluso
Nov 30, 2009 Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, News
No major new updates on Nautiluso. I spoke to media relations at eBay again this morning and posed a bunch of questions, such as: Is eBay ready to declare this a fraud? If so, are they pressing charges and, if so, where? What about the probable victims — who gets protected and who doesn’t? It will be interesting to see how they respond. I’m hoping to speak to someone directly in eBay corporate, no offense to the media relations person who is quite nice and friendly. I haven’t seen any new complaints or negative feedbacks on the eBay profile of Nautiluso, but they haven’t pulled it down yet either, so that’s a good thing, since it is a place we can keep monitoring events if eBay is not forthcoming with information. I did notice that Nautiluso doesn’t have any items posted this week.
Buyers File $30,000 in Fraud Claims Vs. Nautiluso
Nov 29, 2009 Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, News
In the past two days five buyers have filed 21 instances of negative feedback against Nautiluso and have indicated in their feedback posts that they have filed claims with eBay. The actual number of records involved was higher — 24 records in total — because some of the feedback actually registered as positive, accidentally we presume. You can check out the feedback comments here, but here are some samples:
“Buyers be aware! 10/10 jazz auction was a mere fake; you’ll never get your recs!”
“Never received the record. No communication from seller. Claim filed with Paypal”
“Never received the item, filed claim with Ebay and Paypal…”
“Records never delivered. There is not a response at all either.”
If those comments are not bad enough here is the piece de resistance, from a classical buyer:
“The contents are 100% different Useless trash Search with Q123Q word.”
So the assumption on that last buyer is that he received a package from Nautiluso, probably timed to arrive after the 45-day time limit for filing a claim with eBay, and the contents of the package were not relective of those that he had won on the auction. We’ll do more reporting on this later today and tomorrow, but so far the tally is as follows:
Tags: Jazz Record Fraud
Prestige Day At Jazz Collector
Nov 28, 2009 10-Inch LPs, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige
Let’s catch up on some of the Prestige jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay:
Sonny Rollins, Moving Out, Prestige 7058. This was an original New York pressing. It was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover and the seller has a good reputation. The price was $197.50. This one has Kenny Dorham and Thelonious Monk. We would have expected a higher price.
Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This was an original New York pressing as well. The record was only VG, while the cover was M-. The price was $213.50.
Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, Prestige 7294. This was an original yellow label pressing with
Tags: Charles McPherson, Cliff Jordan, Eric Dolphy, New Jazz, Phil Woods, Sonny Rollins, WEbster Young
On Ebay: Hope, Dex, Jackie & True Blue
Nov 27, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Let’s take a break from all this Nautiluso stuff and get back to our real business of watching real records on eBay. Here’s a few that will whet your appetite:
Elmo Hope, Informal Jazz, Prestige 7043. This is quite a nice rare record featuring John Coltrane and Hank Mobley, later issued as Two Tenors. This is an original New York pressing. The record is in M- condition and the cover is listed as VG++. The current price is nearly $400, but it hasn’t reached the seller’s reserve yet. The seller has a few other nice items as well, including: Jackie McLean, A Long Drink of the Blues, New Jazz 8250. This one is listed as M- for both the record and the cover and is currently at about $115 — also still short of the seller’s reserve price. The same seller also has a copy of:
Tags: Dexter Gordon, Dootone Records, Elmo Hope, Jackie McLean, New Jazz Records, Tina Brooks
Nautiluso Buyers: Deadline to File a Claim is Now
Nov 26, 2009 Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, News
The question about Nautiluso: Is it a fraud or just a case of an incompetent seller in completely over his head? With each passing day and new revelation it seems as if the fraud scenario is increasingly likely. If you are a buyer of one of the records and are concerned that perhaps it was a fraud, the time to act is now, particularly if you
eBay Responds To Nautiluso Questions (Sort Of)
Nov 26, 2009 Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, News
If we’re going to get to the bottom of the Nautiluso case, eBay is probably not going to be all that helpful, based on the initial response from their public relations people to our inquiries. We posed a few questions and actually had hoped to speak to someone directly at eBay, but we wound up talking to a PR person from an outside firm and she relayed the questions and relayed the responses. We’ll follow up again after the Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, this is what eBay has to say about Nautiluso:
Esoteric Question Of The Day: Does This LP Have RVG?
Nov 25, 2009 $1000 Records, Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Questions
Duonri reminded me that I didn’t include this record from Nautiluso in the list: Jackie McLean, The New Tradition, Ad Lib 6601. This was listed in M- condition and wound up selling for $4,036, the highest price we’ve ever recorded for a jazz record on the Jazz Collector Price Guide. So I went back to the original listing in order to record it, and I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before: The seller says this one has the RVG in the deadwax? The question I ask: Is this possible — does an original pressing of The New Tradition have the RVG in the deadwax, or did he just make that up? I would have looked in my own collection for the answer but, unfortunately, I sold my copy of The New Tradition for a mere $400 nearly 20 years ago. Many of you may have heard this story before, but I sold a bunch of my rarest records in one shot so I could buy a boat. Six months later
Tags: Ad Lib Records, Jackie McLean
A Winning Nautiluso Bidder: Still No Record
Nov 24, 2009 Jazz Vinyl Fraud, News
We finally tracked down one of the buyers from the Nautiluso auction. Paul Sagerman is a collector in Tuscon, Ariz. He had purchased the LP: Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington on Riverside. It was an original pressing in near mint condition and the price was between $500 and $600. Sagerman was the one who had original filed the negative feedback on Nautiluso back on October 14 when he suspected that the auction was not legitimate. However, he withdrew the negative feedback after he learned that the seller would accept Pay Pal. So far, Sagerman has not received his record and has filed a dispute with eBay. Originally, Sagerman said he had planned to bid on about 20 records, but was concerned when the seller did not respond to his questions. “I asked for a scan of the label, a scan of the back cover and
Tags: Thelonious Monk
Nautiluso: Starting To Assess The Damage
Nov 24, 2009 Jazz Vinyl Fraud, News
I just looked back again at the records we were watching from Nautiluso and the numbers are staggering. Here are some of the prices that we recorded:
Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568: $3,805
Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588: $3,750
Tina Brooks, True Blue: $3,249.99
Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims: $3,242.99
J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536: $2,247.22
Tommy Flanagan Overseas: $2,247
Bill Evans, Waltz For Debby: $1,500
Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1540: $1,705
Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet: $1,175
That’s a total of about $23,000 for just nine records. Perhaps these were the ones that sold for the highest prices but, still, with 75 jazz records that week, you could still be looking at $60,000 or more. Maybe it’s not Bernie Madoff territory, but in our little world of Jazz Collectors it is quite a score if, indeed, the records don’t exist.
No, No Nautiluso: Buyer Opens Claim With eBay
Nov 24, 2009 Jazz Vinyl Fraud, News
A couple of readers have already pointed this out in various comments: The feedback is starting to come in on Nautiluso and it is not very promising. One buyer has issued two feedback reports, stating the same thing: “Records never delivered from Oct. 16 purchase . Have opened claim with eBay.” Both of these claims were for classical records, but the notes are ominous, as is the fact that so far there has been zero feedback from the huge jazz auction we were watching: Nothing at all. If you go back to our original report on this alleged Jazz Vinyl Collection, we had pinpointed about 75 records, in pristine condition, all among the rarest of the rare in the world of jazz collectibles: Jackie McLean on Ad-Lib, Tina Brooks True Blue, Hutta Hipp on Blue Note, and many, many more. We were somewhat skeptical and many visitors to Jazz Collector
Tags: Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Catching Up: Mobley & the $1,000 Bin, Boyd, Zoot
Nov 23, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
In my panic over eBay’s glitch yesterday, I tried a bunch of different searches to see how I might be able to alternatively maneuver through the jazz records. I may not have found a smooth alternative, but I did find a lot of pretty nice records for sale, many of which closed last night. Here are some of the interesting ones:
Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address and it was offered by the seller roverd-90, who has been putting up some very nice jazz vinyl lately. This one was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,232, so welcome, again, to the $1,000 bin. According to our calculations, this is the fourth time this record will have surpassed $1,000 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.
Rocky Boyd, Ease It, Jazztime 001. This was an original pressing, the record features
Tags: Hank Mobley, Jazztime Records, Joe Newman, Rama Records, Rocky Boyd, Zoot Sims
A Disaster on eBay?
Nov 22, 2009 News
Please tell me this problem is only happening to me. For many years I’ve had a very specific search for jazz records. It was quite simple: Records, Jazz, 33 RPM. Typically, there would be 300 or so pages of 50 items each during any given week, 15,000 or so items. This was where I would browse and where I would sort and search. This morning I clicked onto my bookmark and, suddenly, without warning, it was GONE! The search took me directly to the overall records category — 6,400 pages and 320,000 items, most of which I could care less about. I went back several times to try to get my original search back and, nope, no way, it is not there. I went back to the eBay home page and tried to find it and, nope, no way, it was gone — no way to search through the jazz records, or to list the jazz records separately as I always have. I did do a search with the word jazz and it narrowed the list down to 22,000 items, but it included 78s and 45s and all other categories of jazz, and there was no way I felt comfortable that this would have all of the 12-inch jazz records I would have seen under my traditional search. Please tell me that I’m doing something wrong and eBay hasn’t made a monumental error in how it lists jazz records. Please, please, please. If that is not the case, and eBay has really made this change in how it lists jazz records, it could be a disaster to those of us who have come to value eBay as a means to both buy and sell records. It would take away the efficiency of what we do and the fun and the sense of community. What could they possibly be thinking?
Tags: eBay Jazz Listings
In the Mood for Some Vintage Jazz? Check this Out
Nov 20, 2009 News
Are you guys familiar with the Web site Wolfgang’s Vault? Among other things, they purchase the rights to older concerts and make them available for downloads (for a price) or just for a listen while you’re online. I mention them because they have acquired rights to a bunch of concerts from the Newport Jazz Festival and have posted a couple of dozen on the site already. As I type this I am listening to the Horace Silver Quintet playing Sister Sadie from July 3, 1959. The clarity of the recording is fantastic. They also have Dizzy, Monk, The MJQ, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Oscar Peterson and others from the same concert. I’ve listened to some of the Monk and some of the Blakey (“Moanin’”) and the sound quality was equally good. This is definitely worth your time to check out.
Tags: Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Newport Jazz Festival, Thelonious Monk, Wolfgang's Vault
For Blue Note, More Prestige Than Prestige
Nov 18, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige, Price Guide
Here are some nice records we’ve been watching. Each of these will be added to the Jazz Collector Price Guide.
Phil Woods, Pairing Off, Prestige 7046. This looked to be a beautiful copy of an extremely nice record and it was graded in M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $344.90, which actually seems pretty low to us. By comparison, for example, look at this record: The Magnificent Thad Jones Volume 3, Blue Note 1546. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing from a reputable seller. The record was in VG+ condition, at best, for the vinyl and VG condition for the cover. The price was $800. Is there really that big a gap
Tags: Paul Quinichette, Phil Woods, Thad Jones
On EBay: A Few From Impulse
Nov 17, 2009 For Sale, Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
We’ve been very busy with eBay the past couple of weeks — putting records on eBay is what we often do when we are procrastinating from other work, so this would be the evidence that we’ve been in heavy-duty procrastination mode. Anyway, our neurosis is your gain: This week we’ve had 70 items on eBay, several of which closed yesterday, many more of which close today, and a few more of which close tomorrow. Part of what we have up there now is a nice batch of Impulse LPs we’ve either pulled from our own collection, or pulled from the collection we purchased in Trenton back in May. Here are a couple of examples:
Archie Shepp, Four For Trane, Impulse 71. This is an original orange label pressing in nice VG+ condition. It is closing later today and is currently at $40. Also from the same batch is this:
Tags: Archie Shepp, John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef
Free Jazz Vinyl, TAL: And The Winner Is . . .
Nov 17, 2009 Free Collectibles, Verve
OK, time to announce the winner of our latest give-away. This one is: Tal Farlow, Tal, Verve 8021. This is a nice Japanese pressing that is in beautiful condition and is being given away, frankly, because we found ourselves with an abundance of copies through a variety of mostly pleasant circumstances. Anyway, this record features Tal in a guitar-bass-piano trio with Eddie Costa and Vinnie Burke. It’s a superb record and of the era during which Tal was setting new standards for inventiveness on the jazz guitar. As usual, the record will go to someone who has commented on the Jazz Collector site these past two weeks. We may have a new record number of eligible contestants — 21 in all. Usually I mention everyone, which I shall do again, but I’m not sure if I should continue doing. If any of you has a feeling about this, and about having your name mentioned, please let me know. Anyway, the eligible names for the Tal record are:
Tags: Tal Farlow
A Few More Blue Notes For the $1,000 Bin
Nov 16, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
The $1,000 jazz vinyl bin got a little bit more crowded over the weekend. Here are some of the additions: Clifford Jordan, Cliff Craft, Blue Note 1582. This was an original pressing that was listed in EX+ condition, which we translate into what we would describe as VG++. This one was among the nice batch sold by the seller JazzRecordRevival, which did quite nicely with its bit auction. This one sold for $1,273.
Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588, enters the $1,000 bin once again. This was a copy in VG+ condition for both the record and the vinyl. It sold for $1,548. For a
Tags: Cliff Jordan, Freddie Hubbard, Jazz Vinyl, Sonny Clark
Nautiluso Where Art Thou? No News, No Feedback
Nov 13, 2009 Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, News
It’s been more than a month since the now-famous — or perhaps infamous — auction from the seller Nautiluso. I use the words famous and infamous quite loosely, of course, but it was certainly a major topic here in our limited world of Jazz Collector. Anyway, there is no feedback yet from this auction. None, zero, nil. I reached out this morning to someone who knows someone who knows someone who won a record and the record has not yet arrived. Hmmmm. I know many of you were suspicious in the first place and I’m sure this information does nothing to dispel the whiff of fraud you perhaps had scented in the air. If anyone in our audience has first-hand knowledge of anything — a record that arrived, or a record that clearly didn’t arrive — please let us know. At some point, if there’s no information forthcoming, we will contact eBay directly and see what they may have to say about it. For those of you new to the site and unaware of this auction, just type “Nautiluso” in the search bar at the top right of the page and you’ll be able to see all of the articles and comments dating back to our first post on the topic from October 5.
Catching UP: Kenny Dorham, Johnny Griffin
Nov 13, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Riverside
Time to catch up on some jazz vinyl we’ve been watching this week. Let’s start with a little KD: Kenny Dorham and Jackie McLean, Inta Somethin’, Pacific Jazz 41. The vinyl on this was in VG++ condition and the cover looked to be VG+. This is a nice record, but I’ve never thought of it as a high-end collectible. However, I will have to rethink that now that is has sold for $667.56. Also, there was this: Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 1535. This was an original
Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Kenny Clarke on Savoy
Nov 12, 2009 Savoy, The Great Jazz Vinyl Countdown
I was going through my records the other day and came up with this interesting discovery: This Savoy LP by Kenny Clarke featuring Cannonball Adderley was issued with two different covers. I discovered this accidentally because I had one filed under Cannonball and the other under Clarke. The one with the better cover — ‘better” in terms of a great picture on the front — is the one entitled Bohemia After Dark Featuring Cannonball. The other one is also titled Bohemia After Dark, but that’s just on the back cover: The front cover just lists it as The Jazz Corner of The Villiage, Cafe Bohemia, Featuring Kenny Clarke. Both are Savoy 12017 and both have the same tracks and liner notes. If I had to guess which was the first pressing, I would have said the second one, the one
Rare Bird Nets $2,210. Yes, $2,210.
Nov 12, 2009 $1000 Records, 10-Inch LPs, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Wow, there was a real bidding war for this one: Charlie Parker, Dial 203. This was a 10-inch pressing sold by Euclid Records. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG++. What would you normally expect this to sell for? I’d have said $400, maybe $500. If you look at the Jazz Collector Price Guide the range is $300 to $500 depending on condition, with one previous copy selling for more than $700. The bidding for this one started getting intense between two buyers at somewhere north of $800 and it skyrocketed all the way to a final price of $2,210. Not bad. By contrast, Euclid also sold copies of the following 10-inch Dial records by Bird: Charlie Parker, Dial 207. This one
Tags: Charlie Parker, Dial Records, Euclid Records
On eBay: Mobley, Some 10-Inchers, Hawk & Dex
Nov 11, 2009 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Riverside
Some nice items on eBay this week. Here’s one that’s about to enter the $1,000 bin: Hank Mobley, Peckin’ Time, Blue Note 1574. This is an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The vinyl is listed in M- condition and the cover is a combination of VG++ and M-, which means its pretty nice either way. it is closing soon, there are already 15 bids and the price is already more than $1,000.
Also ending today is some nice 10-inch jazz vinyl from our friends at Euclid Records. Here’s one: Dexter Gordon Quintet, Dial 204. This one is listed as M- for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. The price is only $67. Perhaps we may throw in a bid on this one, since this is a record we don’t have and would certainly like to have, even in the face of our Jazz Vinyl Countdown.
Another major seller with some major items this week is the seller jazzrecordrevival. Here are a couple they have up:
Tags: Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Dial Records, Euclid Records, Hank Mobley
Sidemen Deluxe: Phil Ffunque & Jimmy O’Heigho
Nov 10, 2009 Questions
I was just posting an old Joe Newman RCA album on eBay and came across the following pseudonyms: Phil Ffunque on alto and Jimmy O’Heigho on trombone. Pretty easy to figure out, but I won’t spoil the fun. My favorite is still Buckshot La Funke from Here Comes Louis Smith, Blue Note 1584.
Tags: Joe Newman, Louis Smith
On Ebay: Evaluating and Re-Evaluating
Nov 10, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Had an interesting eBay experience today. I’m selling a bunch of records now on eBay. Here’s one, for example: Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland Volume 2, Blue Note 1522. This is a Lexington Avenue pressing if anyone is interested. Anyway, a potential buyer asked about another record I had listed. He wanted to know if there was any surface noise. I had listed the item in VG+ condition. When I listed it last week, I listened to one side and it was clean. When I got the question this morning, I listened to the other side, which did, indeed, have some surface noise. I felt like my original listing was a bit misleading, so I ended the auction early and
Tags: Art Blakey
Rollins in Concert; Memories of the Village Gate
Nov 10, 2009 Jazz Memoirs, News
I don’t get out to see live jazz nearly as much as I would like. It’s tough when most of your favorite musicians are dead. Someone did send me a link, however, to let me know that Sonny Rollins is giving a concert in Tarrytown, NY, on Dec. 6. This is one I will make every effort to attend: Don’t know how many more chances there will be to see Sonny and, the truth is, his playing is still amazing. I saw him at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival a couple of years ago and he was creative, inventive and full of energy and musicianship. This is a benefit concert for an environmental group and for a premium ticket of $500 you get to meet Sonny. There was a time when you could see Sonny in a club and just chat
Tags: Art D'Lugoff, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Village Gate
