Adventures in Jazz Collecting: The Auction, Part 3
Guess what came in the mail yesterday? Remember that Jazz Auction in which I participated a few weeks ago. Well the records are here and now I can tell you how I did. Remember, I bid blind on these records, based on the written descriptions, and I gambled on quite a few of the packages. I was competing with a bunch of sellers/dealers who were at the scene and had the opportunity to physically view the records. Also, I paid an extra 17 percent above what I bid because that was the fee taken by the auction house. In any case, here are the results, part one of three: Live vicariously through me if you please. The prices listed below include the 17 percent extra fee, so they are the amount I actually paid for each package. Also, the listings as I describe them below are similar to the way they were listed in the auction itself.
Wes Montgomery, Full House. Price: $70.20. This is an original blue-label Riverside
pressing. In the auction it was listed as VG+ for the vinyl and VG for the cover. It was actually quite undergraded. The record is actually M- and the cover is VG++, very clean. This is definitely an improvement over the one in my collection, so I can sell that one and, hopefully, recoup my investment. So far, so good.
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of West Mongtomery. Price $64.35. This is an original deep-groove mono pressing. It was listed as VG+ and VG++ and the record, again, is closer to M-. This replaces a stereo copy in my collection, so I’m pleased with this purchase as well.
Three LPs: Lester Young on Savoy; Art Blakey on Blue Note; Charlie Parker on Savoy. Price: $76.05. I bought this solely for the Blakey record, which was Free for All, Blue Note 4170. I figured if it was an original pressing in nice condition it would probably pay for the package. But this was a risk, for sure. The Blakey is an original, with the ear and the Van Gelder stamp, and it is a mono and it is in M- condition, so that gamble paid off. The Lester Young on Savoy is not an original. It’s the second pressing of Savoy 12068. The Bird on Savoy is also not an original: It’s a maroon-label. But both are in M- condition and will probably be headed toward eBay in the next couple of weeks.
Two New Jazz LPs With Purple Labels. Price: $93.60. This was We Three, New Jazz 8210, with Roy Haynes, Phineas Newborn and Paul Chambers, plus, Lem Winchester, Lem’s Beat, New Jazz 8239. The Haynes LP is an original pressing in beautiful M- condition, probably unplayed. It is much better than the one in my collection, so I should be able to sell this on eBay and recoup my investment. The Winchester is also an original pressing, probably unplayed as well. I don’t have a copy of this in my collection, so I will keep it. It was interesting with these two because the listings didn’t mention condition. The fact that they both turned out to be near-mint was a pleasant surprise and a bit of a revelation in that the other bidders didn’t go higher.
As I’ve looked through all the records, preparing to do these updates, the thing that comes through is that the owner of this collection kept the records in excellent condition and the auction house that was selling them actually undergraded them pretty consistently. If I would have known this I’m sure I would have bid on more records because I think there were probably a lot of bargains in the lot, even though there was the 17 percent surcharge. But, not everything was perfect, as I will share with you in the next part of this series.