More Jazz Vinyl For the $2,000 Bin

Here’s some jazz vinyl for the $2,000 bin:

Hank Mobley Quintet, Blue Note 1550. This was an original pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $2,142. A few months ago, I catalogued all of my Blue Notes for insurance purposes. For each record, I put down the condition and assigned a value to it, based on current market conditions and historical trends from the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Well, based on price trends, I’m going to have to go back and reassess the values and make them higher in most cases. For example, I don’t have an original pressing of this record, but I have an original of Hank, Blue Note 1560. My copy is M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. When I did the spreadsheet earlier this year, the value I assigned to this record was just

$450. Now I tend to be conservative in general, so this might have been light even then, but now, what would the record be valued at? $1,000 at least, right, and perhaps if I were to offer it on eBay, it might actually sell for double that. Interesting how the market changes and how hot the original Blue Notes are now. I believe eBay helps to fuel this frenzy, which is actually a good thing because it establishes a market for people who want these records and can afford them, and it makes it more exciting for those of us who are hunters to seek out and unearth these treasures at more reasonable prices. Anyway, later today or tomorrow I will go through some of my earlier Blue Note valuations and adjust them and I will share the process with you here. Stay tuned.

Also for the $2,000 bin: Doug Watkins at Large, Transition 20. This was an odd one to sell for such an inflated price — the record is only listed in VG condition. It did have the booklet and the cover was VG++, but VG seems a little of a stretch for the record to fetch a price of $2,302, which is what it did. It looked like there were five bidders going back and forth and a sixth bidder came on at the end and topped everyone. Prior to the close of the auction, the price was in the $1,200 range.