A Heavyweight Quartet
We are watching some real heavy-duty collectibles on eBay now, starting with Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This is one of those quasi-original originals depending upon your point of view. Translation: It doesn’t have the New York 23 on one side of the label. Whether that makes it less original is probably not the point. What we have learned over the years is that it makes it slightly less valuable to collectors. No tears are being shed for this seller, however. The record looks to be in around VG++ condition and the cover is M-. The bidding is more than $2,600 with less than a day left. This copy has been around the block a few times, and is the same one that ostensibly would have sold for more than $11,000 back in 2015 but obviously did not actually sell at that time. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the goings on at eBay, even for someone like myself who follows things fairly closely.
Here’s another one destined for the $2,000 bin: Eric Dolphy in Europe, Debut 136. This is an original pressing listed in “near mint” condition for both the record and the cover. There are nearly four days left in the auction and the bidding is already at $2,000. Do you think Eric Dolphy could have ever imagined a single record of his selling for more than $2,000? Do you think he ever made anything close to that for a single record date? Not very likely.
This one has already surpassed $1,000 in bidding but may not actually sell because it hasn’t reached the seller’s reserve price: Kenny Drew, Undercurrent, Blue Note 4059. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing with one side deep groove. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is VG++. The bidding is at $1,025 with nearly four days left.
This one has a start price of nearly $1,000: Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record and cover are listed in VG++ condition. There are no bids yet, but there are seven days left on the auction so we would expect it to sell, given the condition of the record and the state of the market.
The seller of the Dolphy also has a crisp-looking copy of the Barney Wilen on Guilde du Jazz. Très rare.
What’s that ‘micro sculpture’ gizmo pictured with the Mobley?
sidewinder – exactly. Vinyl_house are a strange outfit
sidewinder: they have been doing that for years. no idea what the point is, but i agree with richard.
Eric Dolphy may not have made $2000 in his entire career, let alone for any particular gig.
sidewinder- resting on top of the headshell in the 1st photo is an impossibly small sculpture of RVG with his turntable and a tiny copy of this album. Apparently, it was ‘hand carved’ as a tribute to this LP. Personally, I’d prefer to see more pictures of the vinyl for this kind of dough.
Look at this UK auction the Elmo Hope on Celebrity. It is a VSOP 80s reissue …
Well, coincidentally caught the end of the Mobley auction just now and it sold for GBP 4,220 – not exactly chump change, but more in line with what you’d expect than the $ 11,000 from 2015. Think we can safely say that was an abberation now.
351£ for the Elmo Hope VSOP !!!
Oh my god that Hope auction!
I think I paid $12 or $15 for my NM copy!
There are two VSOP Hope LPs available right now as a BIN – both around £25.
I’m guessing 5 different bidders thought it was an original
Scratch that – there are 3
I’m curious, has anyone here won an auction from vinyl-house-uk? The Hank Mobley cover is graded NM but all 4 corners are lightly bumped and there are also pin holes in each corner. I’ve seen this before where a previous owner or store displayed covers on a wall using pins in the corners. You can also see a discoloration along the right side. I’ve always been cautious buying from a seller who overgrades covers, which I can see, because I’m relying on they’re ability to properly grade their records audibly.
@Woody – I won an auction from vinyl-house-uk a few years ago and was pleased with the experience. As I remember it, they shipped quickly, the visual description of the vinyl was accurate and, I would argue, played better than described in the listing. Perhaps I just got lucky though.
However, this purchase was before the Peckin’ Time auction they described as a “US First” that clearly had a fabricated deep groove in what was a Japanese repress. I believe the listing was pulled before anyone won the auction, but after that, I have not placed any bids on their auctions.
https://jazzcollector.com/blue-note/strange-hank-mobley-peckin-time-activity/
JRock1675 – Thank you for your insight, always nice to hear about a happy ebay experience. I had a dealer at a record show freak out on me when I told him that several of his Blue Notes weren’t original, no P, no RVG, and the inside of the covers didn’t look like the original cardboard, but they had a deep groove. A couple of weeks later he told me I was right and enlightened me that they were the Japanese repress’s he had picked up cheap at a flea market and had no idea they weren’t original.
Vinyl_house is indeed an interesting operation. They claim to have a proprietary process for “restoring” covers to like new condition. Begs the question of if they have a process to restore the vinyl…. They remind me of auto restorers who paint over rust and only replace parts that are visible, then sell to someone with more money than knowledge.