Category: Jazz Vinyl

Another $1,000 Record, This One in VG Condition

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We’ve been keeping an eye lately on jazz LPs that sell for more than $1,000, which is particularly interesting in light of some of the softness we’re seeing in other parts of the market. The LP True Blue by Tina Brooks, Blue Note 4041, is one that has broken the $1,000 many times. It is quite rare. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide, we’ve seen a copy go for as much as $2,075. So, we were watching this copy of True Blue this week to see what would happen in a soft market. The record wound up selling for $1,625. What makes this more interesting is that the vinyl was only in VG condition (the cover was VG++). It’s not so unusual these days for rare Blue Notes to top $1,000, but $1,625 for a record in VG condition, is still pretty high. Part of it attests to the rarity of this particular LP, and part, also, to the underlying soundness of the market, at least for the higher-end LPs.

I do have a personal experience with this LP to share:

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Today on Ebay: Freddie Redd, Kenny Drew, Trane

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Here are some of the items we’re watching today on eBay. Things still seem slow, and it will be interesting to keep an eye on the prices of some of these.

Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record and cover are both in VG+ condition. The current price is about $230. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide, we’ve seen this record sell for between $300 and $900 depending upon the condition. It’s a great record if you’re not familiar with it, featuring Tina Brooks and Jackie McLean.

John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, Tenor Conclave, Prestige 7074. This is an original New York pressing with the yellow label. The record and cover both look to be in VG+ condition. The current price on this is $74. 

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Watching A Miles 10-Inch Not Sell

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Here’s one we’ve been watching with some degree of interest:

Miles Davis All Stars Volume 1, Prestige 196. There’s been a lot of discussion on the site about the level of interest in 10-inch LPs and how it may be waning, even among the most devout collectors. I noticed this one a few weeks ago because it’s a great record with a great cover and the vinyl was in M- condition, perhaps unplayed. The cover looked like something we would rate as VG+, with a partial seam split.

This was first up for auction a couple of weeks ago and received a top bid of $107.50, which failed to reach the seller’s reserve price. The seller put it up again this week and got a top bid of $91.03, also failing to reach the reserve price. So, could we conclude, in today’s market this is now a $100 record?

Two More For the $1,000 Bin

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Things may be slow on eBay this days, but there always seems to be a large appetite for some of the rarest records, and two of the ones we’ve been watching sold for more than $1,000 recently. We haven’t had quite such luck with our own sales although, admittedly, we haven’t been putting up gems. Still, we had more than 50 records up for auction this week and probably sold only about 50 percent. This is highly, highly unusual, since we tend to underprice the records and grade them conservatively. The other thing, and a few readers noted this, is that traffic on eBay seems to be down: Not only are fewer people bidding on the records, fewer people are looking at the records. I think it’s all a temporary lull — a reaction to the economy — and I’m planning to continue posting records on eBay. Whatever doesn’t sell I put into the store inventory, which you can view by clicking the Items For Sale link above, so you may find bargains if you take a look. In the meantime, we continue to track eBay pricing and here are the two records that recently sold for more than $1,000:

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Some High Tickets: Dexter, Helen Merrill, Jackie

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We were running out of the house yesterday and we had about 10 minutes to do a quick perusal of eBay, so we did a search of the records ending soonest with the highest prices. This is not a search we normally do, but it was interesting because most of the records that came up were records that could be purchased immediately for a Buy-It-Now price. Most of these were quite high-priced (after all, that was the search criteria), but it’s an interesting way to find something that might be at the top of your want list. In any case, we watched a few of the auction items, and were surprised to see some of the high prices, given what we’re seeing these days with our own auctions on eBay. 

This one was the biggest surprise: Dexter Gordon, One Flight Up, Blue Note 4176. This was a mono pressing, New York USA, with one side deep groove. It was listed in excellent condition, record and cover, which we generally translate to VG++ in our terms. The record sold for $415.90, quite a high price for this record. We have previously followed four copies of this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, and it’s never sold for more than $200 in the past. Anyone have any idea why this copy would sell for such a high price in this supposedly down market? I have a NY USA stereo pressing of this record in VG++ condition, and would happily take $200 for it if anyone is interested. Seriously.

Among the other high-ticket items from yesterday, there were:

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For the Price Guide: Webster Young, Trane, Hank

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We haven’t been keeping up with the Jazz Collector Price Guide as often as we’d like, but we have a few items we’ve been watching that we’ll enter this weekend. If we get moving, we could get up to 4,000 records into the database within the next couple of weeks, which would be something of a milestone. Anyway, here are a few we’ve been watching:

Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. I’ve always loved this record, some great tenor playing by Paul Quinichette. This one was in VG+ condition, both record and cover, and sold for $296.

John Coltrane, Ballads, Impulse 32. This was an original mono pressing with the orange label and the gatefold cover. It was in M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $113.50.

Hank Mobley, Roll Call, Blue Note 4058. This was a nice original pressing with the West

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This Week on Ebay: Miles, Clifford, Trane

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We haven’t been very active selling on eBay lately: Just life getting in the way. However, this week we found some time to clean and post a bunch of items. It’s a mixed bag, but there are a few nice ones, including:

Miles Davis, Blue Haze, Prestige 7054. This is an original New York yellow label Prestige. It’s in VG+ condition, and sounds quite nice. We put a start price of $30 and it’s already received a bid, so we expect there to be some action.

We also put up a nice-sounding original copy of Clifford Brown, Jam Session, Emarcy 36002. This also has a start price of $30. It’s a great record, with a lot of positive energy. 

As you may have noticed on the Jazz Collector site, we’ve been going through some old Downbeat Magazines, looking for collectibles (we’re even giving one away). We’ve put a few up for sale in our eBay story, and we put a very interesting one up for auction yesterday. It is:

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Ebay Watch: Prices are Down, Another Cycle?

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If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines on eBay waiting for prices to come down, now may be the time to jump in. I don’t have any hard data, but I’ve been watching eBay almost every day for a while and it’s clear that prices for jazz records are down quite a bit from where they were 12 months ago, six months ago, even three months ago. I see it less in the highest-end collectibles, and more in the second-tier records, which either are not selling at all or are selling at lower prices with fewer bidders. I’ve seen these cycles come and go many times before and just when you think, uh-oh, the bottom’s going to drop out of the market, there’s a resurgence. And, given the state of the worldwide economy, it should be no surprise that prices of collectibles would go down. Still, there’s always the concern: Will the market come back again this time, or is there something more fundamental going on? What do you think?

Today on Ebay: Fuller, Parlan and McCoy (For Sale)

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SHHHHHHHHHH. It’s so quiet on eBay today we wouldn’t want to disturb any of the sleeping buyers and sellers. I have a sense that the economy is starting to wreak a little havoc on the jazz collectibles market — not on the high-end collectibles — but in the mid-tier. We’ll see. These things tend to go in cycles. Perhaps it’s a good time to be buying. Anyway, it is quite quiet on eBay today, but there are a few things worth noting, including:

Curtis Fuller, Bone and Bari, Blue Note 1572. This is an original pressing in M- condition, both record and cover, and it features an autograph by Curtis Fuller. Not to mention the presence of Sonny Clark on piano. The opening bid price for this record is about $140 and, as of now, there are no bids. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide we’ve seen this record sell for nearly $700 in M- condition without an autograph. So maybe it is a time to be buying.

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