Off To The Races, The Chase is On
We’ll start today’s jazz vinyl watch with a personal favorite that we don’t see that often on eBay: Charles Rouse and Paul Quinichette, The Chase is On, Bethlehem 6021. This is an original red label pressing with the deep grooves. The record is in near mint/ex-plus condition and the cover is VG+. The current price is nearly $300 and there are about 12 hours to go as of this writing. Great record.
Now we go to a conundrum we have mentioned before: How do you value a sealed record without knowing its provenance and then, once you have it, what do you do with it? In this case the record is: Donald Byrd, Off the the Races, Blue Note 4007. This is a mono pressing and the factory seal is still on it. There is no indication of Liberty on the back cover — it looks like an original back cover. The seller, Euclid Records, one of the most credible in our community, makes no claims about the record’s originality and offers no hype. We’ve seen records like this and they’ve been originals, we’ve seen records like this and they’ve been later pressings, New York USA or Liberty. So what would you bid on this record? And, I assume you would open it as soon as you got it, so is there a huge value in purchasing it sealed? This one is priced at more than $150 and there are still three days to go.