Updates
The seller of the U.K. Esquires we were watching did all right. I guess the buyers did too. Miles Davis, Miles His New Quintet, Esquire 32-201. This was in M- condition for the record and Ex for the cover. When we wrote about it, the bidding was in the $55 range. It sold for $533.99. I find myself siding with Maarten on this one. I like the cover design. It is an artwork, at least to my eyes. In fact, I tend to like the cover designs on most of the Esquire Prestige releases. Case in point: Elmo Hope, Informal Jazz, Esquire 32-039. This one was listed in Ex+ condition for the record and cover. It was also in the $55 range when we posted. It sold for $338. Even this cover has a simplicity that is appealing, although they probably could’ve put a little more effort and oomph into it, Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Esquire, 32-045, particularly considering that they had two years to work on it after the U.S. release. This was listed in Ex+ condition for the record and Ex for the cover, with a partial seam split on the top. It sold for $356.12.
Our friend Japhy sent me an email under the subject Did This Guy Just Sell the Greatest Collection Ever? Among the more recent sales was: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This was an original pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The price was $3,550. If you look at the seller’s sales over the past few months, he has made quite a bit of money. And, surprisingly (to me, at least) he only sells in the U.S., doesn’t ship overseas.
Whilst on the topic of selling the greatest collection ever, no new news on my own situation. My partner Mike and I are still negotiating with our largest client. I appreciated all of the advice and commentary on my post Back in Action.There’s a lot to consider. Once again Maarten struck a nerve with me, talking about spending time with the records and enjoying them, while also enjoying the process of thinning them out. I can also see simplifying it all and going with a consignment. I’m probably going to share to much personal information right now, but . . . . years ago I lost a ton of money in the first Internet bubble. That’s one of the reasons I’m still working with Mike and still in the game. But one of the “advantages” of losing money is you get a tax write-off, and I still have one. So if someone out there would have the wherewithal to buy one of the world’s greatest jazz collections in one shot, you know where to find me.
Still on the topic of selling one of the greatest collections ever, we have this inquiry from one of our readers: “Does anyone know what happened to the inventory of Dayton’s when Jimmy died. Was it sold? Does it still exist?” I’m pretty sure the same reader has asked the question before and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t answered to his satisfaction. I know that I don’t know the answer. Does anyone?
How many jazz records do you have, Al?
I don’t know what people or stores pay for nice collections these days, but around 12 years ago I knew someone that had an amazing 8000 piece collection. Nearly the complete Prestige output, not all but most of the Blue Note catalog, and your basic healthy selection of all the other standard labels, etc. He was paid $250,000 by a record store in the Midwest. That’s a pretty big chunk of change but it worked out to approx $30 a record.
I’m curious if that would seem a fair amount these days or too low or too high?
Mark – I have more than 8,000 records. Most of the Prestige and Blue Note catalogues and a more than healthy collection of all the other standard labels. It never occurred to me that someone would shell out that much for a single collection, but if you look at the retail value of a collection like mine, a store could score a big profit and have enough inventory for a few years. Food for thought, I guess.
This seems like a mindblowing amount, Mark. I doubt that 99% of record stores have resources even close to that for purchases. That’s why, even here, I think, and the IG, we sometimes hear that someone finally bought a good collection (or likely, just a part of it) after all the stores turned it down for being too expensive.
Back in early 2000s, I heard a comment that a purchase of a good jazz collection after a bidding war at an avg price of $10 proved to be “disastrous” for the winner. But that’s long ago. And, honestly, even 12 years feel like long ago in terms of prices of original jazz records.
Al has bought collections over the years of him keeping this blog, so he may be willing to share a comparison on the unit price. I realize, however, that Al was buying in order to keep the best pieces rather than resell, so he couldn’t be counting on recouping a sizable amount relatively quickly.
Another consideration from speaking with a few record stores: unless you are in a major market, outside of BN-Prestige, the “healthy selection of other labels” is likely to be a very slow seller, considering the size of the investment. In other words, it is much easier to sell 8000 copies of “Rumours” than an 8000 piece diverse jazz collection.
The first word the Miles Davis Cover evokes in me is “stark”. Perhaps “brutal”. I like the black, white, and red (moon). Jazz can be stark…abrupt…bare. Re: a dealer paying $250,000 for a jazz collection, the collection would have to have a book/retail value of $1,000,000 – which I guess is possible.
I’ve heard of a number of stores paying $100k for a good collection but yeah, $250K is a lot. I think if records are still worth something when I go, my wife should be consigning them rather than taking a one shot payout. But time will tell.
What if we frame it this way: What if there were a collector (we’ll call him “Al”) who had 8,000 records to sell and wanted to get $250K for all of them. That’s a pretty big undertaking, both logistically and in terms of finding a single buyer. But what if instead “Al” had 250 records that he could sell for $1,000 each to a handful of buyers? Or 500 records that he could sell for $500 each? Would “Al” do that, take his $250K to the bank, and just find a good home for the remaining 7000 or so records?
yeah, that’s well put. And he probably does. I don’t have as many records as Al — 6,000 give or take — but a lot of ’em are pretty nice and could fetch decently prices individually. Were I in a position of liquidation I’d parcel out all the heavies, consign them, and sell the rest for whatever to whomever.
In this day and age, there’s not much reason to sell a large collection at a ‘wholesale’ or discounted price.
My jazz collection is medium, about 2000 records. I’ve sold another 3,000 records over the years: improving editions and removing what I didn’t like. I only have 2000 records but they would be hard to sell: very few are worth less than $100, apart from the holy grails…
Random Thoughts:
1) Al’s collection is definitely worth more than the $250K at today’s prices. There are people out there who could easily write that check. There are lots of high net worth individuals who wouldn’t think twice about dropping that much on a car or even a stereo system. Finding them if they are not on this site or known to an underground network that I am not privy to, is the challenge.
2) Unfortunately, it would be hard, though not impossible, to find a record store to buy them all. I don’t think Jazz Record Mart or Academy or Disk-Union has that much free cash flow to leverage for 1 transaction.
3) Having done it myself and with a partner, it is too hard for the lay-person to sell that much volume on eBay or Discogs. The listings, the responding to inquiries, the shipping, and customs, the returns, etc. is more than a full-time job to move that much weight. Reality is that anything that sells for less than $30 is a pain in the butt to recoup your time and hassle.
4) Best bet to liquidate would be to work with a Carolina Soul which has the reputation and labor machine behind them to make it feasible. My guess is that it would still take a couple of years to sell it all in order to maximize returns.
I can relate to some of these comments around both purchasing and selling records in bulk. I had the opportunity to buy a radio station collection including over 100 blue notes, 100 impulse, and other top labels. This was just prior to the pandemic – 900 pieces in all, with average per piece of about $25. I ended up selling half of the collection, which paid me back for the total purchase plus profit. It was a pretty big undertaking even just selling the 450 titles. Naturally without the overhead of a store, I could settle for a slimmer margin, where a store may have only been able to pay $10 per record.
More recently, I was culling my collection and picked out around 375 records to sell. I priced 360 of them at $4 each, and the other 15 records at essentially their fare market value, and sold all 375 to a single buyer. This was a much easier way to cull, than if I decided to list each on ebay, giving a $5 record the same time and attention to list/answer questions/ship as I would a $200 record.
This is my first reply to this site, but I have been reading it for years. Thanks to Al and you all for sharing your insights.
I used to sort, grade and price Lp’s for the ALS Mammoth Music Mart in Skokie, IL (Chicago). When the Mart closed up shop about 20 years ago, they had about 24 pallets remaining of unsold Lp’s. Each pallet was loaded with Lp’s of all genres (about 3000 Lp’s per pallet) and I was mighty tempted to by one for the asking price of $150.
These were sight unseen and you had to take what they sold you. I got the eye from the wife (not in my garage!) and didn’t pull the trigger. After a little discussion I went back the next morning, got in line with about twenty other collectors only to get the disappointing news that a Parisian record store owner had purchased all 24 pallets.
I think that works out to about 5 cents a record!!
So close, yet so far…!
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