More Jazz Vinyl For the $1,000 Bin

Let’s catch up on some of the rare jazz vinyl records we’ve been watching on eBay, starting with: Charlie Parker, Bird Blows the Blues, Dial 1. This is the first 12-inch jazz record ever and it was issued without a cover. It usually fetches a nice price when it lands on eBay, and this one was no exception. It was in VG+ condition and sold for $1,643.49. There were only two bids, which always makes me a bit suspicious when a record sells for this much money. It’s usually a bidding war that drives prices this high.

This is one that’s new to me, but it got a huge price: Rosemary Squires, My Love is a Wanderer, MGM 3597. Looks like this one was in M- condition for the record an the cover, other than a cutout hole on the cover. Rosemary Squires was a British pop star, and I’m not quite sure what makes this record so valuable and so desired by collectors, that they would drive the price all the way up to $1,580.55. I’m sure someone out there will be happy to enlighten me.

Here’s another for the $1,000 bin:

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Tracking Some Lovely, Rare and Expensive LPs

Here are a few of the more expensive jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching:

Art Pepper Quartet, Modern Art, Intro 606. This one was rated in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. I have to give the seller and/or Photoshop credit — that is a fine looking picture of the cover and it certainly looks a lot more appealing than VG+. I have a feeling some of the bidders felt the same way: This one sold for $1,580 with 20 bids and about half as many bidders. Love the simplicity of the cover of this one. Anyone know who did it? Intro is not a label that gets noticed too often.

J. R. Monterose, The Message, Jaro 5004. This looked to be an original mono pressing in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $888.78.

Beverly Kenney, Like Yesterday, Decca 8994. This was an original deep-groove pressing with the pink promo label. It looked to be in quite gorgeous condition and was graded M- for both the record and the cover. Quite a nice find, which was reflected in the final price, which was $790, the highest we’ve ever seen for this record.

 

 

One For the Price Guide (We Hope)

One of our readers sent me an email and asked me to include this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide: Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro 606. This was an original pressing in VG+ condition for the record and VG- condition for the cover. It sold for $730. In the headline the seller mentions that this is a 1951 pressing, but that cannot be possible. They weren’t even pressing 12-inch records in 1951, were they? It was during that time that the 10-inch LP was the “standard.”

Anyway, I will add this to the Price Guide, although I have to admit I’ve been quite remiss in doing regular updates. I know I used to use the Price Guide all the time when I was selling records on eBay. I found it very helpful. And I know that people are using it now and referring to it fairly often, because I see the analytics from Google. It seems to be particularly popular in Japan. Really. So I will slog along, put aside a day or a half day somewhere in the next couple of weeks, and make sure I plug in all of the records I’ve been promising to plug in since I last did a major update about four months ago. It would certainly help the motivation if there were a few kind words about the Price Guide as well. 🙂

Jazz Vinyl: Two for the $1,000 Bin, Plus A Couple More

Been away from my posting for a few days. Trying to get back into the swing of things, but there were a couple of days of hurricane delays, plus the lovely Mrs. JC is on vacation. Anyway, I vow once again to be posting more regularly, starting today with some jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay.

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original New York pressing. The record was described as M- condition and the cover looked to be at least VG++, perhaps M- depending upon your grading system. This one sold for $1,536. We’ve seen this one sell for more than $2,000 several times in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, and once approach $3,000. So perhaps this is a bargain, or perhaps it’s just where the market was on this particular day. The item did have more than 400 page views, which is a significant amount.

Here’s a Riverside that did quite well for the seller, which was Euclid Records: Wynton Kelly Piano. Riverside 254. This was an original Blue label pressing with the deep grooves. It was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $710. Nice cover on this record, right? Straight from the ’50s.

So this next one made the $1,000 bin after all:

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Pick A Peck of Pepper, For a Price

How about another Art Pepper record: Art Pepper Quartet, Modern Art, Score 4030. I’m kind of kidding showing this one. Why? Well, it’s the version on Score and not Intro, so it is less than original, right? And it’s in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover, so that’s OK. How about the start price? How about $19,999? If this one sells, we’re all doing something wrong. More realistically, there is this one: Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro 606. This is an original pressing  and it’s listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the vinyl. There’s more than a day to go and the price is in the $550 range, which is a bit more like it. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide we’ve seen this one sell for more than $1,000 many times, and even once at more than $2,000. But never at $19,999. While we’re on the subject: Art Pepper Quartet, Tampa RS 1001. I’ve seen this with a pink label and this one has a black label, so I’m not sure which is original. This one is only in VG condition for the record and VG- for the cover and is priced at $67.

Jazz Vinyl Catch-Up: Two For the $2,000 Bin

Let’s catch up on some of the jazz vinyl we’ve been watching.

As some of you have noted, this one did sell after all: Hank Mobley Quartet, Blue Note 5066. This was the one that had the start price near $2,000 and was in M- condition for the record and cover. So, welcome to the $2,000 bin: It sold for $2,050.

Also in the $2,000 in is this from the Jazz Record Center: Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro  606. This was also in M- condition for the record and the cover and it sold for $2,025.

How about the Sonny Rollins with the cover on the side: Sonny Rollins, Blue Note 1542. This was a Lexington Avenue pressing with the flat edge. We’re assuming that when the seller took the picture, he turned the cover around to show the name clearly and the opening is really by the yellow, where it belongs. We’re also assuming the winning bidder is assuming the same thing, since the price was $766.

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Jazz Vinyl From The Jazz Record Center

The folks at Jazz Record Center have a new eBay auction up now. It’s always interesting to watch their stuff because their strong brand name ensures top market value. Here are a few of the records we’ll be watching from this auction:

Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro 606. This is an original deep groove pressing that is in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It has a start price of $750 and already has a bidder, so you can expect that this one may be headed for the $1,000 bin.

Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note 1518. This is a West 63rd Street pressing, whereas the original first pressing would have been Lexington Avenue. I’m curious about this second press Blue Notes, which many of our readers think of as originals, because their prices have gone up quite a bit recently. I just bought a West 63rd copy of the first Miles Davis Blue Note, which I’ll be selling at some point, either on eBay or from my basement. This one is in “near-new” condition and already has a bidder at $100.

I’ve always liked this record and I do, fortunately, have an original pressing: Lou Donaldson, Swing and Soul, Blue Note 1566. This one is also in very nice M- condition and has a bidder at a $350 start price.

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No Summer Slump Yet: Lots Of $1,000 Records

We have quite a large number of items to add to the $1,000 and even $2,000 bins on this beautiful Monday morning in sunny New York. If there is a summer lull in prices on eBay, it hasn’t much made a dent in the prices of some of the high-end collectibles, such as these:

Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1550. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in beautiful M- condition, for both the record and cover. It was also sold by the seller Roverd-90, who had the Johnny Griffin the other day and also had a few others, such as the Lee Morgan Candy I’ll cover below. Quite a nice week for Mr. Roverd-90. This record sold for $1,825.

As mentioned, Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is one of the rarest of the rare and was in beautiful M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $1,900.

We had pointed out the Jazz Record Center’s auction of Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This one was listed as mint condition — not even mint minus and we had predicted that it would sell for at least $2,000 and perhaps as much as $3,000. We were right the first time: This one fetched a price

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