From the Archives: A $38,000 Bill Evans Letter: A $129,000 Trane Manuscript

Here at Jazz Collector, we usually focus on jazz records, mostly what’s bought and sold on eBay. There are lots of reasons for that but, fundamentally, the reason is that we believe eBay sets the market’s prices. What’s more it’s a public market, so everyone can see it and monitor it and decide if he or she wants to participate. And finally, it’s a true worldwide market. Check out The Great eBay Debate for other opinions. But there are, we recognize, other places for jazz collectibles, and other objects d’jazz than vinyl. We were reminded of this as we were going through our archives and came across this article from 2005 referencing a huge sale of jazz collectibles by the auction house Guernsey’s. I’ll repost the whole item below, but note just a couple of items: The Bill Evans letter to John Coltrane that sold for more than $38,000 and the original manuscript and text for Trane’s A Love Supreme, which sold for more than $129,000.  

Here’s the original post from April, 2005:

Did any of you participate in the Guernsey’s Jazz Auction back in February? Here’s what happened with me. I went down the day before the auction to get a look at the items. Everything was in a large room at the new site of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Most of the stuff was enclosed in glass cases, although some of the instruments and artwork were out in the open behind a rope, where you could almost touch them. The placed was packed: A lot of jazz fans, to be sure, but also some curiosity-seekers as well, spilled over from the Gates exhibit across the street in Central Park. For me, the coolest thing was standing inches away – separated by glass – from Charlie Parker’s King alto. The idea that Bird’s fingerprints were all over the horn was truly thrilling and gave me goose bumps. I stood there for maybe five minutes just staring at the horn and breathing in the air.

At the end of the day, however, I decided not to come back on Sunday for the auction itself. To be honest, as compelling as it was, there was nothing that truly excited me: Nothing, at least, that I thought would be in a reasonable price range. Gaping at all that memorabilia, in fact, made me appreciate my record collection even more. It would be nice to have John Coltrane’s original recording contract with Prestige, but, given the choice, I’d take John Coltrane’s Prestige records any day. All you can do with the contract is frame it and look at it. With the records, you can put them on the turntable and listen to Coltrane play and hear and feel his presence in the most personal way possible: Through his music.

The next day I did watch some of the auction on line, which was not the most exciting way to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon. Bird’s alto was the highest selling item, going for $286,000. The item I was watching most intently was a letter from Bill Evans to Coltrane, dated Oct. 30, 1958. It was handwritten on both sides of a single sheet, with a small drawing by Evans and signed “Wild William.” Near the end of the letter, Evans wrote: “This letter will have to be my communiqué to the band also as I don’t have Jimmy’s, Paul’s, or Cannon’s address and can’t remember Miles’. I truly miss hearing and being with everyone. But, I’ll be saying hello soon.” I had a feeling this would be highly sought-after item and I was right. I figured it would sell for $10,000 to $15,000, based on other prices. Even I was surprised, however, when the bidding kept going and going, all the way up to $38,350. Quite a sum for a 2-page letter, wouldn’t you say?

Among the other high-ticket items: 
The original manuscript and text for Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: $129,200
Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet: $30,680
Gerry Mulligan’s baritone sax: $112,100
A notebook on “Negro History” written by Coltrane in the fifth grade: $16,520

That Coltrane Prestige contract I mentioned above sold for $6,000. It included a handwritten note at the end that stated: “Prestige agrees to pay John Coltrane $300 per 12″ album and will record 3 12″ albums per year.” Isn’t ironic that the amount Prestige paid Coltrane to record those albums is comparable to the amount a single copy of one album might fetch on eBay today?