Warhol Anyone?

I had mentioned a few weeks ago how I’d been getting a few requests a week from people interested either in selling collections or in getting advice on what to do with their collections. I’ve seen some interesting items. Here’s one: A guy in Toronto goes into a store and buys the Count Basie record with the Andy Warhol cover (RCA 1112). It costs him 25 cents. He takes it home and notices that there’s a name written on the cover and figures, no big deal, it’s just the previous owner. Then he looks closer. The signature reads “Andy Warhol.” He goes online to look at other Warhol autographs. Sure enough, it’s a stone-cold match. So here he is, sitting with an original Warhol cover signed by Warhol. And he has no idea what it’s worth. He sent me a note looking for advice, and I told him I had no idea what it was worth either. I suggested he try Soetheby’s or Chistie’s or some other auction house. He was advised to start any auction with a price of $500. I haven’t heard back from him, but, if anyone is interested

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For the Price Guide: A Blue Note Batch & A Prestige

Here are a few more big-ticket items we’ve been watching. All of these will be entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide as soon as we get a chance.

Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New Jersey address. The record and cover both seemed to be in VG+ condition. The price was $599.95.

Walter Davis, Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in M- condition. It sold for $790.

Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This too was an original pressing and it was in M- condition, both the record and the cover. The price was $636.  This was actually surprisingly low — we’ve seen this record sell for more than $1,000 several times, and reach as high as $1,590 for a record that  was not in M- condition.

Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The

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A Term New To Us: “Kakubushi Frames”

Every so often I come upon an album or a term that is new to me. Here’s one on an item I’d been watching on eBay. The item was: Kenny Dorham, Round Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Blue Note 1524. The seller listed the album as having “kakubushi frames” in the cover. I pulled out my copy from my shelf (that’s the one pictured at right) and I still can’t figure out what the term “kakubushi frames” is referring to. I’m hoping someone out there can help. By the way, my copy is a nice original pressing with the flat edge and Lexington Avenue address. It’s only in VG condition, but sounds quite nice. I imagine it also has the “kakubshi frames” since it is an original. The one I was watching on eBay was in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG for the cover. It sold for $695.

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.

Soaring With an Alto Sax Legend (Not)

Sometimes it’s fun to browse through eBay, just for an occasional chuckle. Here’s one I like, on a record that’s closing this evening. The record happens to be John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, Impulse 77. In order to drum up interest, the seller decided to spend an extra 75 cents or so on a subhead for the item, which he used as follows: “Soar Through The Heavens With Alto Sax Legend.” Yes, we all appreciate Trane as an alto sax legend, as we appreciate Bird as a tenor sax legend, right? Anyway, if you find listings or mistakes that amuse you on eBay, feel free to share them here at Jazz Collector.

More Peak Prices, Plus Miles, Sonny, Trane For Sale

In mentioning records reaching new price peaks, I inadvertently left out a couple of records among the ones I’ve sold recently. These aren’t records we’ve tracked often, but we haven’t seen higher prices for either of them:

Granchan Moncur III, Some Other Stuff, Blue Note 4177. This was a New York USA pressing. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. It sold for $223. 70.

Anthony Williams, Spring, Blue Note 4216. This was also a New York USA pressing in beautiful condition, M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. This one sold for $202.50.

We have a bunch of records up on eBay now, although none will fetch those kinds of prices. Here are a few of the records that are available:

John Coltrane (et al), Wheelin’ and Dealin’, Prestige 7131. This is an original pressing, with the New York

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Is The Market Slowing? Not Based on These Prices

Sometimes, as summer approaches, eBay slows down. Not so far this summer. We’ve seen a lot of rare jazz records setting new highs for prices over the past few weeks, as we’ve been upgrading the Jazz Collector Price Guide. If you look at the prices of some of these records, you’ll get an idea:

Kenny Drew, The Kenny Drew Trio, Riverside 224. This was an original white label pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was listed as VG++. The price was $898.88.

Kenny Dorham, Whistle Stop, Blue Note 4063. This was an original West 63rd Street mono pressing that was listed in M- condition, both record and cover, and it was posted by a reputable seller. It sold for $898.89.

Jackie McLean, 4, 5 & 6, Prestige 7048. This was an original Yellow label pressing with

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This Weekend on eBay: Thad, Jackie, Kenny Dorham

Here are a few items we’re watching on eBay this weekend. As always, it’s a good idea to check the seller’s other items because many sense, such as yours truly, tend to offer decent records in bunches:

Thad Jones, The Magnificent Thad Jones Volume 3, Blue Note 1546. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. I’m not sure why, but the seller mentions Lexington Avenue pressings selling for more than $2,000, but I’ve never seen or heard of a Lexington Avenue pressing of this LP. Has any of you? Anyway, this one looks like it’s in about VG condition and has a starting bid of around $150 and, as of now, has no bids.

Jackie McLean, 4, 5 and 6, Prestige 7048. This is an original pressing with the New York address and the yellow label. It looks to be in VG+/VG+ condition, although the seller uses different terminology that we do, and is currently priced

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For the Price Guide: Dolphy, Jackie, Criss, Kamuca

Time to catch up on some recent collectible items on eBay and update the Jazz Collector Price Guide, which has now surpassed more than 4,000 entries, each one, I’m proud to say, hand-entered and hand-selected by yours truly. Here are a few more I’ll be hand-entering this weekend:

Eric Dolphy, Last Date, Fontana 681008ZL. This is the original Dutch pressing. The record was listed as M- and the cover as VG++. It sold for $661. Also from Eric Dolphy, Outward Bound, New Jazz 8236. This was an original deep groove purple label. The record was M- and teh cover was VG++. The price was $283.

Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record was listed as VG++ and the cover as VG+. The price was $547.11.

Sonny Criss, Jazz USA, Imperial 9006. This was an original pressing. The record was listed as

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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.

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