Watching Original Jazz Vinyl on eBay
At some point soon I will be updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide. My inclination is to not include some of the recent sales we’ve been watching here, such as Getz/Gilberto and Miles Davis Four and More since they are clearly aberrations and not indicative of the overall market. I think they would tend to give people false expectations as to real market value. What do you think?
In the meanwhile, here are some other jazz vinyl auctions we are watching on eBay.
Hank Mobley, Mobley’s Message, Prestige 7061. This is an original yellow-label pressing with the New York address. The record and cover are both listed in M- condition. The price is $165.50 and there are more than two days left in the auction. Tempting, although I have a feeling the bidding will definitely surpass the $600-$700 range and perhaps slide into the $1,000 bin. All of which would put it out of reach for me.
Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This is also an original pressing. The cover
is described as VG, which is what it looks like based on the picture and the record is described as a little less than excellent, which is somewhat meaningless to me, although I would guess that the record has some scuffs and marks and probably plays pretty well because it’s a heavy pressing Blue Note. In any case, the bidding is at about $200 and there are still more than three days left.
I think even aberrations should be recorded.
I think that for you guys who live close to the origins of jazz where all the Blue Note, Prestige, Impulse!, Verve, Riverside records where pressed, have more access to estate sales, thrift shops, garage sales and record shops where a lot of such records are often available for reasonable prices, we in Europe on the other hand have very limited number of sources where it is possible to obtain original US pressings. Our local record shops sell such records for even higher prices than what you see on Ebay, and that’s why most of us collectors end up on Ebay paying such prices that you might consider an “aberration”, but they are still under those prices asked by many local record shops here in Europe. Not to forget that the whole World is competing on Ebay to get hold of a record that might not be easily obtainable anywhere else.
That’s why, When you see that a certain record fetches unusually high prices (shill-bidding aside), then there is an increased demand internationally for it, and this justifies in my opinion adding these prices to the price guide.
I think the aberations should be recorded. When you are dealing with collectibles(as opposed to pounds of wheat, ounces of gold, etc) one needs to have as much data as possible to access the market. Personally as a buyer I don’t want goths market to go up(if I don’t have the record already) but when I’m looking to make a snipe I consider all the prices. I rarely go on the high side, but I probably only win 2% or less of the auctions I bid on.
Yeah,I’m with Mike on recording the abberrations. Otherwise,it could easily become too subjective-“No WAY is that album worth that kind of money…why,I’ve got three copies myself!”-you know?
Ideally,something along the lines of what popsike employs(a graph showing mean,median,mode)would be used. It’s cool being able to recognize when an lp has ‘spiked’ pricewise,and when it might be time to sell-or buy-a specific record. Again,that’s ideal,but beyond the parameters of this site.
Also, ideally the spikes would be easy to recognize just looking at the list. When you see one 3 digit price for Getz/Gilberto most people would assume that it’s an aberration. And with the super rare records(usually going for $1K plus) anyone looking at a guide should probably know that these are much more volatile prices.
I would not record these abberations. I like this price guide here, because it’s reliable and gives you the real market value. Comparing to popsike, one gets a huge range of prices and you can’t be sure, on what price you should rely on. Looking on the jazz collector price guide you have the real deal.
More than $50 for Getz/Gilberto is a joke and should therefor not be recorded. My opinion.
I think there is something fishy going on with Bobs auctions and they should not be recorded.
Hi, can anyone able to provide info on free ebay app which can bid automatically just before the auction ends? (I cannot remember what this is called. thanks