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.
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?