Ready for a Risk? How About a Sealed LP

We’ve been watching a seller this week with some sealed records on the Savoy label. These are a risk, since you can’t tell if the pressing is an original with the red label and the deep groove or perhaps a later pressing with the maroon label. The difference in value between these two pressings could be several hundred dollars — or perhaps even more, depending upon the record. While I’m a risk-taker, some of these got a little too high for my comfort level. Here are a couple:

Introducing Lee Morgan with the Hank Mobley Quintet, Savoy 12091. We’ve seen original copies of this record in nice condition selling for more than $500 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, so a new, unplayed original would be worth quite a bit. But is this an original? Only the buyer will know if, indeed, the buyer ever opens it. In this case the buyer is spending $161.50 to find out.

This one was also tempting:

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