We need a new explanation for this one: Horace Silver, Song For My Father, Blue Note 4185. Admittedly this is a great, classic record and this was an original mono pressing in near mint condition for both the record and the cover. Why is there a new explanation needed? Conventional wisdom has said that because of the initial popularity of this record, there has always been a relatively abundant supply of original pressings in decent condition. Conventional wisdom may be changing. This particular copy sold for $405. Our previous high for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was $334 and, at the time, we considered that to be an aberration. What’s this?

And this? Gene Ammons, Blue Gene, Prestige 7146. This was from the same seller and it was also in near mint condition for the record and the cover. You’d normally expect this in the $40-$50 range, maybe a drop higher because of the condition. This copy sold for $164.50.

This next one got quite a high price, but not a surprising one:

Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This was an original pressing listed in near mint condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $2,480.

This one, from the same seller, broke its way into the $1,000 bin for the first time: Dexter Gordon, Daddy Plays the Horn, Bethlehem 36. This was also described as being in near mint condition. It sold for $1,325.

I always liked this record: Abbey Lincoln with the Riverside Jazz Stars, Riverside 251. This one features Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham in nice support roles. The record was listed as VG+ and the cover as VG++, but the descriptions/picture might make you a bit wary, especially a mention of “feelable” marks. It sold for $177.50.

soundtracks and classical and even a 3-LP set of Rigoletto. Most of the jazz on the list wasn’t very appealing: A lot of Errol Garner (spelled Gardner) and Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws. There were a few collectible possibilities, but for the most part it was an unimpressive list. Still, my eyes were immediately transfixed on the few collectible possibilities: Bill Evans Waltz for Debby; Cannonball Adderley Somethin’ Else; a whole bunch of Miles Davis, including Relaxin’ and Steamin’ and Kind of Blue. Based on the rest of the list, I assumed the “possible collectibles” were most likely to be reissues, OJCs and perhaps a blue-label Blue Note.
There was one bid at $150 and I thought to myself, “Who’s the chump?”
And then the chump was me. Something inside me made me bid. I don’t know why. I’m a gambler and something in the listing appealed to me. I had just won the first poker tournament I had ever entered and I had $1,000 and figured I would press the bet. Who knows the reason: I guess I just needed the action, which is the plight of all gamblers, is it not?
Anyway, I put in a snipe for about $190 and forgot all about it, figuring there was probably a bigger sucker than me out there anyway. Well, a couple of days later the email arrived: Congratulations, you’ve won. For $152.50 I was going to be purchasing another 118 crap records. Lovely. One more thing to try to hide from the lovely Mrs. JC. Then came the invoice and they charged me another $150 for shipping. Ugh. I didn’t want to argue. I paid and figured here’s another one I’ll chalk up to experience.
Well, the records arrived yesterday and you have probably figured out the rest:

Cannonball Adderley, Somethin’ Else, original DG West 63^rd pressing in VG++ condition

Miles Davis Relaxin’, original New York Yellow label, unplayed

Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby, original stereo pressing, VG+ condition

Bill Evans, Explorations, original pressing

Miles Davis, Steamin’, Kind of Blue, Milestones, Miles Ahead, Birth of the Cool, all original pressings, all in nice condition

There’s even more: A few nice Hampton Hawes LPs, a little Cannonball, Monk and Mulligan on Riverside, some Gil Evans, more Bill Evans, a Red Garland original Prestige yellow label.

A nice deal for $152.50 plus another $150 in shipping? You had better believe it. Of course, I’m not encouraging the rest of you to gamble as I do on these. I’d rather not have the competition, thank you.

1. A couple of months ago, eBay made a decision that would drive more revenue, but not necessarily enhance either the buyer’s or seller’s experience. Previously, if you did a search of jazz vinyl you would only see those items that were up for auction, plus those items that had buy-it-now prices with specific deadlines. On average, if you would do a search you would get about 20,000 to 25,000 jazz records over the course of any week. Then eBay decided it wanted to charge more for store listings and raised the price from 3 cents a month for a store listing to some listings as high as 20 cents a month. To justify this rate hike, they made all of the store listings appear on general searches for jazz records.

The result: If you do a search on 12-inch jazz records, which I did just now, you will come up

approximately 140,000 items, five to six times what you would have seen a few months ago. My guess is that many buyers are not filtering their searches to only look at those items up for auction — which would be about 9,000 items now — and are being inundated with too many items to really take the time to find those that may be more obscure. Or, instead of browsing, they are now doing specific searches, a la “Blue Note.” The biggest thing I’ve noticed is how many fewer people are actually viewing records. I’ve seen some very nice records — original Jazzlands or New Jazz LPs — with less than 20 views. In the past, some of these records may have gotten 20 bids, not just 20 views. So I do think that eBay has precipitated this fall-off, which may continue until people get wise and change their search habits and criteria.

2. My second theory on price declines has to do with eBay grading and condition. We are not seeing a falloff in Blue Note prices because buyers seem not to care all that much about condition when it comes to original Blue Notes. We’ve seen Blue Notes in VG condition top the $1,000 barrier. The reality is, so far, you can’t seem to go wrong buying or selling a Blue Note in any condition. But, on the other labels, condition is more important and many of the records I’m not selling — or records I’m watching that fail to sell — are in VG or VG+ condition. My experience buying records in VG or VG+ condition from far too many sellers is that they tend to be over-graded. VG is usually pretty beat, and VG+ is not so great either. So, I think too many buyers have been burned on VG or VG+ records and are becoming more hesitant to pay top dollar. It used to be that I would buy a record on eBay in VG or VG+ condition and hope that the seller had graded it conservatively and it would actually be better. Now, if I buy a VG or VG+ record on eBay, I pray that it’s graded accurately and is not, in actuality, far worse.

What do you think? Are other people witnessing a similar drop in prices? Is it a good time, perhaps, to be buying?

were even more cynical than we were. Now it seems as if there were reasons for our concern. There’s no hard evidence yet, but the circumstantial evidence is starting to get overwhelming that there were no records to be purchased. I’m going to place a call to the media relations department at eBay and see what they have to say about it. I’ll keep you posted.