. . . but we couldn’t agree on the price. It was as simple as that and it was all very amicable. Jason and Nate were great and we had a nice, easy rapport. Jason shared pertinent information about his business model and what he and Nate thought they could get for the records. I didn’t want to let the records go for the amount they offered and we were too far apart for a compromise. So, sitting in my living room with Jason, Nate and The Lovely Mrs. JC, I suggested we turn to Plan B. I would go through the records yet again, this time with the idea that we would do a consignment deal.

If I haven’t done so already, I should make perfectly clear that money was not the primary motivation for me. If I wanted to maximize the value, I could sell the records on eBay myself, or even do something here on Jazz Collector, where I could avoid paying eBay fees. But one of the main decisions I made was that I don’t want to be in the jazz vinyl retail business. What I really wanted was to pare down the collection and reduce it by a significant amount. This meant including a lot of really valuable records, but also a lot of records that would not necessarily be worth the effort on Carolina Soul’s part to sell on eBay. I understood.

When I realized that I wasn’t go to pare down the collection in the amount I wanted, I reset my priorities. I was never looking to make a financial killing, but when I was hoping to sell a large part of the collection outright, I loaded the package with a significant amount of the real high-end stuff. A few examples: Thad Jones and Sonny Clark on Blue Note. I had original pressings and later pressings, either Japanese or United Artists. In the original package, I included the originals for Carolina Soul. In the revised consignment deal, it was the later pressings. Blue Train: I had a New York 23 and a West 63^rd. For the package deal I included the New York 23; for the consignment deal it is the West 63^rd. Miles Davis on Blue Note: in the original package I decided to keep the 10-inch and sell the 12-inch. When it became consignment, I kept them all.

I was willing to sell a bunch of high-end records because it will give me a sense of how well the consignment process works. It was a hard call, but I included all of my doubles. I tell you, when you are holding an original copy of Soultrane, Blue Train or Saxophone Colossus in your hands and you know that you searched for years for those records, it is very hard to part with them, even if you have another copy. I’m sure Ruldolf can attest to that as well. Also, there were very rare collectibles that I just don’t listen to: The Donald Byrd on Transition and Jutta Hipps and Grant Greens on Blue Note are examples of that. My Jutta Hipp with Zoot is so clean, I’m hoping we may be able to set a new high for that record.

What’s next? I haven’t heard from Jason for a few days, but per our last email, the records may be going up for auction this week. I gave him carte blanche to list them as he wants, to grade them according to his standards, to use whatever language he wishes to describe them. After all, he’s the one in the business of selling rare jazz vinyl on eBay, and he’s done pretty well without me so far. Stay tuned.

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