Bargain Day at Jazz Collector?

mating call copyLet’s update some of the records we were watching on eBay, starting with: Tadd Dameron and John Coltrane, Mating Call, Prestige 7070. This was an original New York yellow label pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was just a shade below, probably VG++. The record sold for $393. I listened to this recently and had forgotten just how good it is. It was released before Coltrane’s first record as a leader on Prestige, but his playing is much more confident and assured than on the earlier Miles record or even the contemporaneous jam session records such as John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Tenor Conclave, Prestige 7074, which was sold by the same seller in the same lot. This one was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $420.

That autographed Thelonious Monk record, At the Blackhawk, Riverside 323, wound up selling for $697. Based on the comments from the previous post (thank you again, Don-Lucky), this seems to be a legitimate autograph and it seems to be a good price for the buyer.

One more for today: Lou Donaldson, Wailing With Lou, Blue Note 1545. This was an original pressing with the New York 23 address. The record was M- and the cover was VG+. The price was $438. Given what original pressings of Blue Notes are selling for this days, this seemed pretty reasonable to me, given when the record was released and the fact that it’s a darn nice record.

 

(Visited 24 times, 1 visits today)

15 comments

  • Could the fact that the Lou Wailing album was sold from Germany have any effect on the bidding?
    I once bought an album from Europe, which had to be returned (not as described), and the return process was so painful that I stopped bidding on records not coming from the USA

  • Earl:
    As a long time Ebayer, you are correct.
    There seems to have always been more hesitation when it comes to buying outside of the USA or Canada. I have actually , got some pretty nice LP’s from Europe due to low bidding , time differential etc etc.
    The funny thing is the opposite is true ,meaning ,and as you probably know, most BIG records go to Japan or Europe.
    I can honestly say that anything my friends have sold on Ebay that were “Heavy Hitters” , go that route.
    Example, I sold a copy of Lee Morgan’s, “Candy” for $1,200 , for a friend. Japan,is where it ended up.

    On another note , Grading is vastly subjective and I find all over the board. I wonder someday if there will be a “CGC” (Comic grading Service) type body for records someday. (?)
    Meaning, a third party grading service for records.

  • Eh, I’ve had poorly-graded records come from both sides of the pond, as well as very, very clean records. Most of my buying habits are in the realm of free jazz and especially weird European avant-garde stuff, so I tend to deal more with European and Japanese sellers than those in the US. Canada also seems to be a frequent home for oddball LPs on the secondhand market, both buying and selling.

  • Also, the cover on that Mating Call is kind of nasty. Looks like something spilled on the back cover slick.

  • Gregory the Fish

    i’ve noticed some prices going down a bit recently. i got a mint copy of the original mono “blues and the abstract truth” for about half of what i would call “market value” as of a year ago. i have a handful of such examples.

  • Joseph ~ I have thought about a professional grading service for records as well. The problem would be that the records would need to be encapsulated after grading. Much like comics, coins and sports cards. Most collectors (I imagine) play their records making third party grading tough to pull off. I guess it would work for those who just collect and don’t play their records.

  • Joseph – oh god, I hope not! That would ruin the whole point of collecting records: playing them.

  • Terryfromflorida

    The record grading issue is definitely an area that could be improved. The Goldmine system should be revised with more concrete standards and combined with a numerical scale more like PSA does for sports cards.
    One issue is that when you see the grade of “very good”, an average person would be confused in finding that the vinyl has numerous scratches on it.
    When Goldmine was developed most sales of records were done by record stores, which assumes the seller was experienced.
    Today, everyone with internet access is now a “dealer” of records and the poor uneven grading reflects that trend…

  • I agree, I for one would not want encapsulated LP’s. Defeats the purpose and it’s silly. I guess , it would have to be third party with only certificate to accompany record grade ,to make it work. But then you run into…….
    I also find the VG+ grade here in Toronto , all over the place. Example, I have VG+ copies of various LP’s that are what I would consider NM and others that are worst…

    Yes, Greg the Fish , I too have noticed a drop in prices and not just Jazz. It seems to me that anything going for Big Bucks are the Super Rare Heavy Hitters, in almost all Genre.
    At least that is my take……..

  • New video on YouTube, another superb collectible displayed. Here’s the link to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCApWUpJYeXHlRy7KfeEObSQ

    Enjoy!

    Cheers,
    Fredrik

  • hi Fredrik, it’s a shame I have not discovered your videos earlier. You are presenting fantastics records in unbelivable condition – how do you hunt them, is it just Ebay? (I was amazed seeing the condition of McLean on AdLib). Congatulations, I will keep checking your uploads

  • Yeah Fredrik It’s fun to see fine gems 😉 Thanks from what I guess fellow Stockholmian!

    A friendly suggestion: Why don’t you put them on the turntable during the video and tell more how you got them? Now it’s more like: “This is the record in beautiful NM condition” “He’s one of my favourite artists” and not much more.

  • Gandi/Shaft: thanks for watching, I’m glad you enjoy the videos. Hoping that you’d put the stuff you write here as comments on the channel, then we could get some discussions going on there instead. That’s the aim, to get some conversations going on, on the channel, as my regular site is on Tumblr and don’t allow people to leave comments. Then the YouTube channel could be the forum for that, if people want to interact with me and ask questions or just leave feedback. Shaft, great suggestions (är du svensk el.?), I will take that into consideration. The lighting in the cozy room where the records are kept and the turntable is placed has dimmed light, so the videos which is filmed with the Macbook Pro camera will be quite dark, but maybe I’ll try that. As for the questions how I get these gems, I will keep that under the radar.
    But I can tell you that I buy almost all records away from eBay. Some records I’ve bought there, and will continue to do that, but the real good stuff is coming from other places. Please leave comments and subscribe, and keep enjoying the videos. I just hope all of you guys here on Jazzcollector could create a channel and show your records as well. To get a face is always nice. And to see some great rare gems even better. Cheers!

  • Fredrik I was tryin to comment on Youtube but Youtube wanted to comment with me shown as a gmail-user that I use for work only. I have to make my own user first;-)

    That said, I’m glas you liked my idea of putting the records on the TT.

    And yes I’m Swedsih and live in Stockholm. I collect records too but not only 1st pressings but I have some pretty good stuff too.

  • I will have to create a new user as well. Stay tuned!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *