Two for The $1,000 Bin, Plus Two More
Back in business, back on eBay, back to posting more regularly. First let’s catch up on some of the items we had been watching, starting with Hank Mobley Sextet, Blue Note 1560. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The seller had described the record as Ex and the cover as VG++, but it was clear from the pictures that the condition was less than VG++. At the time we first posted this record, the start price was around $500 and there were no bids. In the end there were four bidders, six bids and a final price of $1,075. I’m sure the seller was quite pleased. Hopefully, the buyer was as well.
Bill Evans, Explorations, Riverside 351. This was an original mono pressing with the blue label, deep grooves and reels/microphone logo. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG+ and the final price was $504.90. It looks like this record, and a few others we were watching, were purchased by one of our readers, so congratulations. Here’s another one of his scores: Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This was an original yellow label pressing with the New York address. The record and cover were both listed in M- condition, and the pictures accompanying the listing certainly made it look quite pristine. The final price on this one was $1,037.99. Welcome to the $1,000 bin.
This was a nice one: Art Blakey, A Night At Birdland Volume 2, Blue Note 1522. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was Ex, and also looked very nice. The final price was just $355. Just $355? Yes, I do believe someone got a bargain on this one. This one came from the same seller and also looked to be a bit under-valued: Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was listed in VG+ condition and the cover was G++, which looked to be way too conservative. The record wound up selling for $373.
When $350 is a “bargain”, it kind of bums me out. but i suppose this is how markets work.
i hope such bargains can still be had when i am out of graduate school!
A NM “Explorations”, is one of my dreams. One day i’ll spend 500 + for this one. No problem.
I think the relatively low price for this one is due to the fact that it is a re-issue. The original three 10″ LP albums were re-issued on two 12 inchers. By the way, # 1522 was the first 12″ album I ever bought in my life, somewhere around 1957. All the previous ones were 10″.
Saturday I was at the Vinylmania Fair in Milan, Italy, and I saw a 1522 in beautiful EX/ NM conditions. it sold for approximately 2400 US $. Alongside this item, several others Blue Note were on sale: I saw nice Curtis Fuller and Horace Parlan on BN 47/63, always for top prices. Best regards to you all
Rudolf: you may be right about this, even though 1522 has sold for over $800 a couple of years ago.
Personally, I have always preferred the first printing of a 12″ album over its previous release as a 10″ – they are undoubtedly more practical (getting up less often to change them), and IMO generally better sounding – hard to say for sure whether this is because they were overall better treated (e.g., better styli available by then). I also believe that most collectors have no problem referring to the 12 incher as an ooriginal pressing.
Earl: you are right regarding the better treatment of 12″ albums: as far as I know, all US 10″ albums originally came without inner sleeves. So there is a real risk of abrasures (sleeve marks) and dirt incrusted in the grooves. I noted less interest lately in 10″ albums. So there are some real bargains to be found in the market.
I did away with my 12″ copies of Miles, J.J. and Bud Powell in the early 1500-series, just keeping the original 10″ issues. But I keep 1521/1522 for sentimental reasons, although my 5037-39 are faultless.