Jazz Collector, Back on eBay
I’m on the road this week and won’t be able to post as frequently as I would probably like to, given the reality that the records I am selling on consignment with Carolina Soul Records began closing on eBay today and will continue tomorrow. I was paying so little attention to the auctions, I didn’t even realize they were closing today until I logged on around noon and saw that several of the auctions had already ended. All in all, about 300 of my records were on the consignment list today, with another 300 tomorrow. Despite whatever trepidations I may have had about the discrepancies between my grading curve and that of Carolina Soul, I’m very pleased by the results so far. Very pleased, indeed. And surprised. Having done Jazz Collector for about 20 years now, I feel like I’ve been well on top of the market and how it has evolved. But, seeing my own records being sold has been enlightening in a new way. I’m still processing the whole process and want to see how things end up tomorrow before sharing some of my preliminary thoughts. So let me do one of the things I do most frequently here at Jazz Collector, which is to look at the prices of rare jazz records that have been sold on eBay. In this case, every record on the following list was from my personal collection, singles or doubles.
John Coltrane, Coltrane, Prestige 7105. This was an original New York yellow label pressing. The record and cover were listed in VG+ condition. There were 45 bids and 21 bidders with a big flurry at the end, taking the price from $955 to $2,424.
Hank Mobley, Roll Call, Blue Note BST 84058. This was a blue label stereo pressing, listed in VG+ condition for the record and cover. The final price was $123.50. This is one where I feel like the market has gotten away from me. I didn’t realize that the Blue Notes with the blue label from the United Artists era had attained this level of cachet among collectors. I never valued them greatly, because when I started collecting, they were in print and you could pop on over to Sam Goody and pick one up for $4.99 or so.
Gideo Nxumalo, Jazz Fantasia, Renown South Africa. A few years ago I took a flier and bought two boxes of records, sight unseen, from one of my readers in South Africa. There were several original Blue Notes in the boxes, as well as this record and a few others originally issued in South Africa. When I was putting my piles together for Carolina Soul, I saw that this record had sold for a lot in the past, plus it had the autograph. I put it in the pile to sell without ever listening to it. Mistake? The album was listed in VG condition for the record and cover and sold for $515.
Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners, Riverside 355. This was an original deep-groove mono pressing. The record and cover were listed in VG condition. The final price was $16.50. This is a great record, featuring Wes Montgomery, amongst others. I normally don’t write about records that sell for $16.50, but it has always baffled me why these great Adderley Riverside records from the late 1950s and early 1960s are not more valued by collectors. The music is consistently fantastic, but most of the Cannonballs in this auction (doubles) sold for a similar price, at least the Riversides. As for the one Blue Note, Somethin’ Else, that one sold for $798 in VG+ condition. Are there just too many of the Riversides available, or are people less interested in Cannonball for whatever reason. To me, he’ll always be one of the true greats.
Hi. Maybe the Blue Train has been sold very cheap even though it doesn’t have New York 23 on one side… only $255.00
Blue Train was graded at VG- for the vinyl, so that seems within the range, IMHO.
cannonball’s live albums on riverside are among the grooviest, hippest, and most effortlessly infectious recordings in the jazz canon. i too am at a loss as to why they are so overlooked. ah well. more for me, and congrats on a great auction, al!
I have those Cannonball albums and agree they are uniformly good. They probably pressed a lot of those Riverside titles which is why they are often found in used bins and don’t sell for that much online.
The Gideon album is the one record I bid on from your records; it’s a very scarce record. I bid it up to around $465 or so before bowing out. Perhaps I should have sniped it..I was hoping this title would “slip through the cracks”. Oh well…
the Nxumalo is new to me and really good as well. Looks like it’s been reissued.
I agree with Mark. Lots of Cannonball copies out there.
Aloha Al, looks like the auctions did well! Hope many of them were in the range you hoped for or better. By the way, did you have to prep, clean the records for CS or was that part of their services? I know some sellers don’t like to clean as they want to allow the new owner to have that choice. Mahalo!
Hi Al,
I won Cannonball at the Lighthouse an Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse all stars – Double or Nuthin with Lee Morgan and Wynton Kelly. Were those your copies?
Kyle, I did not have to clean the records, although most of the records in my collection were already cleaned. I don’t know if their process includes cleaning or other prep. Yes, the auctions did really well. A number of surprises, mostly pleasant surprises. As I said, I’m on the road this week so I may be delayed in posting, but I definitely have some thoughts I’d like to share with everyone based on this experience. Meanwhile, and as always, everyone is free to share their thoughts as well.
The Dexter Gordon records weren’t in the deal?
Aloha Al, first safe travels to you. Thank you as always. This helps as I can inform my friend he’s doesn’t need to clean his vinyl though like you had done it early on and then always kept them dust free and in an antistatic inner sleeve but kept the original ones with each album. I hope CS finishes out your transaction well so you can let us know. Well, we have to start the process so we can get to where you are. Hard part is what to keep and let go for my friend and I. His library is much larger but as everyone he has his favorites and duplicates so that is a good starting point and it allows others to enjoy this great music. Mahalo!
Mark, I was bidding on Nxumalo too- it had stayed around $20 until the last five hours when it shot up. I was one shy from the winning bid…I don’t suppose either of us will see another original copy for quite a while! I’ve always been a fan of cape jazz, and thankfully the reissues are an affordable way to listen. Still, the originals would be nice to have, but I’d rather make my mortgage payment!
Hi Andy,
The next day I bought the most recent reissue for $30! A more sensible option for sure.
Jo — not sure what you are referring to, but there were two Dexter Gordon Blue Notes (both doubles) in the final batch that was auctioned.
Al. I mean the original Blue Notes, and the Dootone and Bethlehem. Thanks
I don’t have an original Dootone or Bethlehem. I have all of the original Blue Notes, didn’t include them in the auction. Dexter is one of my very favorites. Had the good fortune to see him many times in the 1970s when he would frequently come the states.
Of course, the original Dexter records would be some the last ones I would sell too.
Gurgle. Yes, they were.
Aloha Al, assuming your experience went well. Will you consign again with CS or do something else with your remaining library that you were willing to move? I think you mentioned a local store might get some of your stock. I ask because outside of discogs, ebay a few other Internet options which take time to sell on, is consignment with a seller like CS the way to go, or at least for “certain” records? Thank you again for sharing this event with all of us. Mahalo!
Kyle – I’m just getting settled in after being away for a week. I owe a couple of follow-up posts based on my experience. The short answer to your question is both. I am very pleased with Carolina Soul and will be happy to work with them again for records that would go on eBay. As for the rest of the records, a little over 3,000 in total, I sold them to a local dealer/friend yesterday.
Al i am curious, if all the original Blue notes were ever in the conversation to be sold to Carolina Soul? was his offer not good enough or did he want to pick and choose ? and that offer was not good enough?
Mark Hall. Never all the Blue Notes. Never. His offer was fair, based on his business model and what he felt he would be able to sell on eBay. It just wasn’t what I was looking for as an incentive to sell all of those records at the time, so I decided to do a consignment instead and see what that was like. Once I decided to do consignment, I pulled a lot of records back and offered him the ones that eventually went up on auction, including almost all of my doubles. I’m pleased with the way things worked out and I am considering doing it again with Carolina Soul. They are professional all the way.
Thanks Al, glad you kept your original Blue Notes, they are hard to get, you and 1 other person are the only person i know that has the complete original collection. Glad to hear the auction was successful, unfortunately i was not able to win any of those Lp’s, maybe i will get lucky next time
Mark, sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve never had the complete original Blue Note collection, not even close.