For the $2,000 Bin: Marable and Flanagan

Let’s update the $2,000 bin, shall we?

The Lawrence Marable Quintet, Tenorman, Jazz West 8. The vinyl on this was listed as VG++ and the cover was listed as excellent, which I generally take to mean either VG+ or VG++ depending upon the seller and the description. For this item, I would think VG++ would be appropriate based on my grading terminology. This copy sold for $2,024.99. I admit: I don’t own a copy of this LP. Generally the LPs that have the high price tags are not just rare, but the music is good as well. Anyone want to share a review/opinion on this LP?

Also entering the $2,000 club, again, was this:

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Catching Up, Nov. 24, 2008

Here are updates on some of the records on eBay we’ve been watching at Jazz Collector recently. Most of these will be added to the Jazz Collector Price Guide by the end of the week. Take a look, please. 

Sahib Shihab, Conversations, Polydor 623257. This was an original pressing in M- condition. Price: $256

Billy Bauer, Let’s Have A Session, Ad Lib 5501. This was an original pressing with the red label. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. It sold for $160. I have two personal Billy Bauer stories. Back in the early 1970s, I had a gig as a rhythm guitarist accompanying my friend Dan Axelrod. My musical talents are, to be generous, modest at best, but Dan taught me enough chords to support him while he soloed. At the time Dan was taking lessons from Billy Bauer and one night Bauer came down to see us with a group of his other students.

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Another Batch From Leon Leavit

We received a note from Anthony Pearson the other day that he’s running another major auction under his anthonypearson2 account. This is the account he uses for the collection of the late Leon Leavitt, which is being sold on eBay in large increments almost every month. This batch includes about 1,200 records and began closing today and will go through Saturday evening West Coast time.  Pearson is also giving winning bidders a break this summer: “It is OK to wait 3 to 4 weeks to issue payment during the summer months,” he writes. Anyway, here are some of the items on this list. Read more

Autographs Redux

Since I wrote about collecting autographs recently, I’ve been keeping a watch on eBay for autographed LPs and other items. Generally, my theory holds that, with some notable exceptions, autographs don’t dramatically increase the worth of a collectible. Here’s a case in point: A few weeks ago an autographed copy of the Barry Galbraith LP Guitar in the Wind, Decca 9200, sold on eBay for $41 in VG condition, not much more than what a non-autographed copy might sell for.

 But, then again, there are the exceptions. How about this one: An original copy of the Clifford Brown and Max Roach LP Study in Brown, Emarcy 36037, autographed by Clifford. Read more

Hot Records, High Prices

Back home after a weekend away. Let’s see what happened on eBay the past few days.

 The seller JBLD44000 out of Seattle, who has been selling some nice records the past few weeks, had a bunch of items up this weekend, with mixed results. A few of the records sold for high prices, including:

Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031, for $1,337.28

Kenny Drew, Walkin’ and Talkin’, Jazz West 4, for $532

This dealer also had several high-ticket items that didn’t get bids at all. Based on our previous experience watching his auctions, we anticipate that these records will be back on eBay in the near future with somewhat lower start prices and, perhaps, Buy-It-Now prices. Among those records are: Read more