Collectible Jazz Vinyl and Not Vinyl

Yeah, that Bill Evans New Jazz Conceptions LP with the original cover sold for $1,725, as someone pointed out in comments. With a VG cover and VG record. I guess not even a global pandemic can halt the market for original jazz collectibles. A few more from the same seller: Gil Melle, Patterns in Jazz, Blue Note 1517. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing in VG MINUS condition with a VG cover. Despite the condition it sold for $910. Curtis Fuller, Bone & Bari, Blue Note 1572. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in VG MINUS condition for the record and VG for the cover. It sold for $706.

I will stick with this seller for the remainder of the post because, in looking at recent completed listings, I noticed a bunch of 78-RPM records. As loyal readers will note, I do have a nice collection of 78s, and I love having them, although I don’t seek them out in the same way as LPs. So I typically don’t look at eBay listings and I’m not on top of market prices and trends as I am with LPs. Having said that, I was quite surprised at the prices of these records, to wit:

Thelonious Monk Sextet, Let’s Cool One/Skippy — $154.72

Thelonious Monk Sextet, Hornin’ In/Carolina Moon — $164.01

Sonny Rollins Quartet, Mambo Bounce/This Love of Mine — $46

Miles Davis Sextet, Ray’s Idea/I Waited For You — $142.49

Miles Davis, Yesterdays/Chance It — $219.18

There are plenty more to review. Check them out at completed listings here. These prices are flooring me. Honestly, even with the Blue Notes, I had no idea there was such a strong interest from collectors.

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9 comments

  • Read Amanda Petrusich’s “Do Not Sell At Any Price” to find out about country blues 78 collectors and prices—a wonderful book. I think I bought the Evans right when it came out—and still don’t have an original cover. Or “Miles Ahead” for that matter.

  • …It’s definitely been a wild ride on ebay the last few months. I’ve seen more than a few vintage LP’s sell for way less than they normally would as well. Glad to see there are still some great deals to be had in these times of uncertainty.

  • In addition to the high prices obtained for lesser quality but more rare items, I was more surprised by the prices for the fairly common BNs (Search for New Land, Horace, Jimmy Smiths, etc.) getting between $100-200 each. Although I already posses nice copies of these records, I routinely pass up buying add’l copies of these when I see them selling for less than $30-$40. Getting a 3-5x return on your investment might have me thinking differently abut snatching these up.

  • VG and VG- with storage warp going for those prices is absolute insanity. I’d rather have a clean reissue any day.

  • To gw- reading that right now. Very engaging and informative. Nice to be able to stream any title she’s referenced out so far.

  • I was watching the auction your are referring to. I have a Tosh copy of PIJ but I was tempted. Then I wasn’t.

  • I commissioned that bill Evans to them. They are very very thorough on their grading. I listened to it before selling and it played vg+. It had a few very light marks close to the label but nothing terrible. When they grade with “slight storage warp” there’s not much of a warp at all. I didn’t notice it when I played it.

  • Those VG Jazz Lps sold over 1000$ seem cheap compared to VG- northern soul 45s casually sold over 6000$!
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/233610857404?ul_noapp=true
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/324189542907?ul_noapp=true

  • In 1948 a 10 inch Blue Note lp sold for $4.95, which in current inflation adjusted dollars is $52.66. So I guess the BN reissues are a bargain. Any interest here in the Poet series, 80ths, etc?

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