No Summer Slump Yet: Lots Of $1,000 Records

We have quite a large number of items to add to the $1,000 and even $2,000 bins on this beautiful Monday morning in sunny New York. If there is a summer lull in prices on eBay, it hasn’t much made a dent in the prices of some of the high-end collectibles, such as these:

Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1550. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in beautiful M- condition, for both the record and cover. It was also sold by the seller Roverd-90, who had the Johnny Griffin the other day and also had a few others, such as the Lee Morgan Candy I’ll cover below. Quite a nice week for Mr. Roverd-90. This record sold for $1,825.

As mentioned, Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is one of the rarest of the rare and was in beautiful M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $1,900.

We had pointed out the Jazz Record Center’s auction of Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This one was listed as mint condition — not even mint minus and we had predicted that it would sell for at least $2,000 and perhaps as much as $3,000. We were right the first time: This one fetched a price

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Et Tu, Johnny Griffin?

Here’s an interesting newcomer to the $1,000 bin: Johnny Griffin, Volume One, Blue Note 1559. This is a great record and, as a rare Blue Note with a great roster of artists, it is not surprising that this would sell for a high price tag. This particular copy, in M- condition for both the record and the cover, sold for $1,380. What was interesting to me about this record was the way in which the seller chose to list it. He listed it as “Blue Note 1559 Lee Morgan Hank Mobley.” He also purchased a subhead, which mentioned the presence of John Coltrane as a sideman. Notice how the seller never even mentioned Johnny Griffin, who was the leader on the date.

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New JRC Auction Includes Mint Saxophone Colossus

There’s an auction this week from the Jazz Record Center and it’s always fun to watch their auctions because they generally get top dollar. One of the items we’re watching this week is Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This one is listed as being in MINT condition — not even mint minus — and the cover is described as “extraordinary.” I have a feeling the price will be extraordinary as well. Right now it is at about $1,200, but I think the first number of the final selling price will be at least a two or quite possibly a three.

Chasin’ The Bird on Savoy

The other day I posted an item about a 10-inch Charlie Parker LP on Savoy selling for more than $1,300. I mentioned that I’d had two copies of these LP and was never sure which was the original cover. I figured that the one that sold for $1,335 was the original, but was not sure. So here are the two covers, side by side, and I’m still not sure which is original. Based on the packaging, I have a feeling the one on the right is the original. This is not the one that sold for $1,335. The one on the left has liner notes on the back, plus listings of other Savoy releases, including a bunch of 12-inch LPs, all the way up to Savoy 15021. The one on the right has a blank back. It also has the title: New Sounds in Modern Music. So our bet is that the Bird selling for $1,335

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Bird 10-Inch Savoy Enters $1,000 Bin

Here’s a record new to the $1,000 bin and it’s presence there is somewhat of a surprise to us: Charlie Parker, Savoy 9000. This is a 10-inch LP and I’ll assume it’s the original cover. I have this record with two different covers and was never sure which one came first. The high price tag leads me to believe this is the first cover, and I assume it is the first cover for the rest of the series. It’s also surprising to see a Bird record sell for such a high price, and a 10-inch LP to sell for such a high price, and a Savoy to sell for such a high price. But, all of that notwithstanding, it did sell for a high price: $1,335 to be precise. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG+.

One For the $2,000 Bin & One For The $1,000 Bin

We were watching a couple of new items that have crossed the four-figure plateau on eBay. They are:

Jutta Hipp, Blue Note 1530. This is the one featuring Zoot Sims. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The seller did a very good job of presenting it, with nice, clear, close-up pictures. It was listed in VG++ condition, for both the record and the cover. It sold for $2,030.

Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was an original pressing with the purple label and the deep groove. It looked to be in nice shape: The record was listed as M- and the cover looked like it was VG+, based on the pictures. The price was $1,225.

Waltz For Debby Hits The $2,000 Bin

Here’s one I somehow missed: Euclid Records had a sealed copy of Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby, Riverside 9399, which sold recently for $2,034, which is definitely a new high for this particular record. The question I have is this: What does a collector do with a sealed record? If you want to listen to it (presumably) you have to break the seal, and thereby it is no longer a sealed record. So do you just hang on to it and admire it and realize it’s still sealed and find another copy for listening? These are the things we think about here at Jazz Collector.

New To the $1,000 Bin: Giant Steps

We’ve been watching a bunch of records to add to the Jazz Collector Price Guide and one of them is a newcomer to the $1,000 bin: John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This was a black label original mono pressing. The record was listed in M- condition — hardly played — and the cover was listed as VG++. It sold for $1,125 and had about 230 page views, which is quite a bit. This record may have sold for more than $1,000 previously on eBay, but, if it did, we weren’t watching. Our previous high for this item in the Price Guide was $690. By they way, as I was doing a search in the Price Guide for this record, I noticed that not everything is being listed in alphabetical order. I guess the database is structured so that when new items are entered, they automatically go in at the end. So if you’re searching for a record like Giant Steps, or anything else by Coltrane — who has three pages in the Price Guide — you should make sure to look at all of the Coltrane pages because after the first couple of dozen items, everything else is entered kind of randomly. I hope this is clear. I will talk to my Web and database associate to see if this is fixable. In the meantime, just do a lot of searching.

Two More For the $1,000 Bin

Here are a couple more records we’ve been watching that recently crossed the $1,000 barrier. Both of these will be added to the Jazz Collector Price Guide, which is growing quite nicely, thank you. Please check it out.

Hank Mobley With Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, Blue Note 1540. This was a beauty: An original Lexington Avenue pressing with vinyl in M- condition and a VG++ cover. At 1540, Blue Note was nearing the ends of the Lexington Avenue addresses and this one is hard to find a an original. The final price was $1,616.

Here’s one we’re not familiar with, so any insight would be appreciated (Michel?): Georges Arvanitas Quintet, Soul Jazz, Columbia FPX 193. This was an original French pressing from 1960. The record was listed as M- and the cover was VG+. The price was $1,325.

A Few More (Blue Notes) For the $1,000 Bin

The $1,000 bin keeps getting bigger and bigger. We just did a search on eBay of completed auctions of $1,000 jazz records and it was quite stuffed. Here are some of the items we will be adding to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. 

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was listed in in “excellent” condition for both the vinyl and the cover. According to the seller’s notes, “excellent” is what we wold normally use for VG+. So, in VG+ condition, this record sold for $1,525.

John Jenkins With Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was in M- condition, both vinyl and cover. The price was $1,905.

Lee Morgan Volume Three, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd Street

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