This seller did quite well last week with stuff from Leon Leavitt’s collection don’t you think? Here are a few more:

Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. It was also described as unplayed condition for the vinyl and pristine for the cover. It sold for $3,650. Wow. Also, Dizzy Reece, Star Bright, Blue Note 4023. The description on this was somewhat hyperbolic, perhaps: “A perfect copy, undoubtedly the best in the world.” Perhaps there’s a cleaner copy on Mars. This one sold for $2,948. One more: This one was also unplayed, pristine an a one in a million copy, although, again, if there were a million of these pressed in the first place, it wouldn’t be worth so much money. Perhaps a one in 2,000 would be more accurate. Just kidding, you know: Dizzy Reece, Blues In Trinity, Blue Note 4006. This one sold for a mere $1,350.

Here’s one that may cause a dilemma: Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. This is a sealed record. Is it an original pressing with the red label, or a later pressing with the maroon label? It seems like you’ll have to buy it to find out. The seller has a bunch of Savoys, all in their original shrink wraps, and he hasn’t opened them to determine their vintage. Is it worth the risk risk? This record is now at $50. If it turns out to be an original pressing, unplayed, with a mint cover, what would it be worth — $500, $800, even $1,000? Who knows? Here’s another interesting one from that batch: Mighty Mike Cuozzo, Savoy 12051. Do you think Savoy even issued this with a maroon label? It’s a sealed record, priced at $9, perhaps an original featuring Eddie Costa on vibes. Worth a risk? Perhaps it is.

This seller also has some nice records, including: Mal Waldron, Left Alone, Bethlehem 6045. This

is an original pressing listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The current price is $660 and it still hasn’t met the seller’s reserve. I’m not a big fan of reserved-price auctions and this is one reason: To me, $660 seems quite respectable for this record, yet you may bid that high and not get it. Anyway, this seller also has a story dealing with the late jazz collector and dealer Leon Leavitt. You can click the link on this record if you would like to check out the story, and you can look at the seller’s other items for more from the Leon Leavitt trove.

“Hello Al, from Larry Cohn in NYC. Like you I have been collecting jazz LPs for decades and was surprised by the major rise in prices beginning in the 1980s, largely spurred by Japanese collectors. However, I don’t think we can take as seriously the recent eBay phenomenon.

You quote assidiously the latest realized prices for eBay auctions, but please bear in mind that in most cases the fight between two or three naive collectors is the reason for the result. This is proven out by your noticing that the same LP, sometimes even in better shape, will go for a significantly lower price in the next (or next after that) eBay auction, simply because one or more of the participants in the prior dogfight has already been satisfied and is no longer bidding.

The current eBay group of buyers is not reflective of the general population and it would be foolhardy to either appraise or even just assume that one’s collection was ‘worth’ these sometimes-astronomical figures. This explains the recent price for Song For My Father, which surprised you at north of $300, for a record that I assure you over the years has sold in the $75-or-less range because, like The Sidewinder, it was a hit and had many pressings in both mono and stereo. Even The Sidewinder gets high prices on eBay that are clearly artificial.

“Basically, not ALL copies of these hits were played and played and trashed — significant quantities still exist in great shape after 40 years, given the tens of thousands of originals pressed and sold or distributed to deejays/writers and others on the comp list (who often tucked a copy away unplayed/untouched. My point is simply this — just because an LP sells for a huge price perhaps once or twice is just meaningless.

In the case of all of these albums, including the rare $1,000-plus Jackie McLeans that keep popping up, there are significant, though perhaps no more than 200 or so, copies of each out there in collections around the world in near mint or even “mint”  (unplayed) condition. There have to be at least 100 serious Japanese collectors alone (add to this the many Europeans), who long ago filled these blank spaces with near mint copies.

The fact that newer and younger collectors using the current eBay technology are so antsy that they will pay upwards of triple to five times the value of a needed LP does not reflect the general market or population. Most collectors, and I include you and myself, were content to build our collections gradually over a period of years and not go nuts to have the immediate gratification of obtaining a mint rare LP overnight. I have found that “the hunt” is truly satisfying, both psychologically and obviously from a pocketbook standpoint. Of course, the hundreds of near mint/mint copies per title I am referring to are currently tightly “locked up” in collections.

But my point is this: If astronomical prices alone were enough to “unlock” all these goodies, then around 1983 virtually all the albums would have been dumped by their original owners, since the Japanese dealers and collectors were paying upwards of $500 to $2,000 for many titles which previously sold routinely in the $20-$40 range. This dwarfs the recent eBay price increases by a factor of ten. Yet copies, no many, but some in dribs and drabs, the majority of the desirable titles continue to pop up — the supply was not exhausted in 1983 before the Japanese economic downturn curtailed some of this nonsense for awhile. AND, those hundreds of copies per title hoarded away by Japanese collectors in the 1980s obviously still exist and perhaps someday will be made available as those same collectors age and tire of the hobby.”

We received a note from Anthony Pearson the other day that he’s running another major auction under his anthonypearson2 account. This is the account he uses for the collection of the late Leon Leavitt, which is being sold on eBay in large increments almost every month. This batch includes about 1,200 records and began closing today and will go through Saturday evening West Coast time.  Pearson is also giving winning bidders a break this summer: “It is OK to wait 3 to 4 weeks to issue payment during the summer months,” he writes. Anyway, here are some of the items on this list.

Bennie Green, Walkin’ and Talkin’, Blue Note 4010

Art Farmer, Art, Argo 678. A few weeks ago a mint copy of this sold for more than $100. This one looks to be in nice condition and, as of this posting, had no bids for $24.

The Return of Art Pepper, Jazz West 10

Dexter Gordon, Dexter Calling, Blue Note 4083. There are pages and pages and pages more to look at. After you click one of these just go to “View Seller’s Other Items” to see the complete list. We’ll follow up on these and look at some more tomorrow. See you then. — al