Let The Insanity Continue
Forty-eight comments (and counting) on the last post. And the traffic on Jazz Collector has been as high as normal. Thank you all for keeping the discussion going while I was pre-occupied last week with doing my real job, the one that pays for the mortgage and the Blue Notes around here. This week I will be under similar pressure, so please feel free to comment on this post and take the discussion wherever you would like. I see that a lot of the previous discussion was a reprisal of a familiar theme, the ability of one particular seller, bobdjukic, to get prices that seem otherworldly to the rest of us in the Jazz Collector world. I personally have no beef with him, never met him, never dealt with him. He does seem to have some magic formula for getting top prices, but I imagine his customers are satisfied because the only way to get those prices is to have repeat business. In any case, after reading the comments, I took a look at his latest auction results to satisfy my own curiosity. Here are some of the ones that caught my eye:
Charlie Parker, Dial 202. This was an original 10-inch pressing. The record and cover were graded in the range of VG++, but the pictures and descriptions of the cover looked more like VG+ to me. In any case, what was striking was the price that someone paid for this, which was $2,550. Bird lives, indeed.
Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Pacific Jazz 1. This was also a 10-inch record listed in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $323.99.
Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba, Verve 8432. This has to be one of the most common jazz records ever. Somehow, he got someone to pay $122.50 for this copy. Now, that’s impressive.
I invite you all to check out the auction results and choose your own personal favorites. There’s a lot to choose from.
17 bids, Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba
now thats INSANE!!!!!!
hahahaha
$1500 for, alternately, a sealed Giant Steps and an open copy of Cosmic Music on Coltrane Records. These seem like excessive prices. Of course there are other titles that did some major damage – the Har-You record, for example, at $2000 – yet are within the usual non-Djukic insanity for their final sticker price.
The all-timer (for me) was last year, when Bob somehow convinced someone to pay $455 for a sealed copy of Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes on Verve. That will never be topped IMHO.
As much as we get irritated by his prices, if I were selling records I would want to get beyond insane numbers too.
Here, you can have my Liberty BNs at $300 a pop!
I almost bid on the sealed MAGNIFICENT THAD JONES the DJyouKICK had (claimed it as a UA press which is probably what it was) but emailed him first to find out what his GUARANTEE meant and he said if I did find a different /label record inside then I would definitely have a problem – meaning I would be on his she-et list. (I’ve never actually won/bought anything from him in 15 years of being on eBay so no worries which makes me think – who does?) So, why does he place GUARANTEED in the listing if it’s not a guarantee? It’s so obfuscating when compared with his SEALED LP RETURN policy it makes me sick – OK Cee Dee I need to sleep tonight – I will stop.
The whole sealed record selling return policy brings trouble to the table so I am glad I sold all my “precious” sealed records years ago. I always try to steer away from sealed records as in my eyes they’re useless. The value is in the seal itself ’cause you can’t listen to it and if you open it you lose value and risk a barry manilow lp inside!!!!!!!!!! Just trouble from the start. if I see something I may want to listen to at a good price I will buy it – take it home- crack the seal – take the lp out and place it on the Thorens and see if it lights up my brand new SVS PRIME TOWERS baby! I have had the same old speakers since 1980 and I went out and got me some SVS PRIME TOERS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahh, the Schrödinger’s Cat paradox … as long as you don’t break the seal on that Giant Steps, it can be both a black label and pinwheel label at the same time. So the value is in not opening it. 😉
Under quantum mechanics, that is the only way you can GUARANTEE that the sealed Giant Steps is a black label 1st pressing. I never knew Bob was a follower of physics. But I digress … sorry.
since the record’s status is not tied to a quantum occurrence (a cesium atom in the case of the cat), it does not follow quantum mechanics.
sorry. i have another life as a math person.
bob is fun to watch. i like his html.
Let’s put a face on this guy you all “hate” but would love to fetch the same amount of $$$
http://arnieg.smugmug.com/Memorabilia/Bob-Djukic-Ebay-Record-Dealer/i-gpxDzHq/0/L/IMG_6046-L.jpg
GTF: OK, agreed … but you have to give me points for suggesting the analogy. OK, now for the Art Pepper Modern Life VG++/NM- currently at $1225 on eBay. This seems steep even for this condition. What makes this title so rare? Limited production run?
My favorites:
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Brilliant Corners original. Most NM copies appear to go for anywhere between $300-600 typically, only two have sold for more than $600 on the ‘Bay according to popsike, and this one shattered the old record of $893 at $1,251.
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Hendrix, Axis Bold as Love original stereo US. Popsike has all copies ever sold on eBay at less than $500 except two. Both sold for around $1,500 and, I know you folks won’t believe this, but both those records were Djukic records, one of them being from this most recent auction.
Bob Djukic…why on earth would anyone on this blog be interested in seeing your face?
Hate is a strong word too?!! I think most comments on this site actually quite admire you, god, anyone who can get the sort of corn you do for some of the most common titles around is a bloody genius.
Your descriptions have filled us all with much hilarity, all that ‘insane’ BS is well.. quite insane!
Very curious how you can be so cock sure about what is in a sealed item? Why don’t you answer that unanswerable question instead of showing us your, frankly, very shifty smug mug.
I have a number of sealed LP’s obtained from Sonny Rollins. I assume that he received them directly from the record company and have no reason to think they contain anything other than what is indicated on the covers. I don’t dare open them so there is no way to guarantee the contents. They will be going on the block.
What I don’t like about these “Rocket-one-off-prices” are that the drive the price picture up and getting more and more records out of reach…..I really don’t care about how much more the ones I already own since I don’t intend to sell 😉
http://galacticramble.blogspot.com/2014/06/david-bowie-bob-djukic.html
A fun read for those of us in the “club”.
Can’t be the real Bob Djukic posting here.
I hope he ditches the goatee.
Bob has posted elsewhere on the net and is always quite verbose when he does. i doubt that was him up above.
adamski: whether it was or not, let’s remember to be civil. 🙂
i think we can all agree that bob gets amazing prices, and uses some questionable selling methods. it’s on his conscience.
Jeff:
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“Several people have emailed him, and – being the open, even-handed kind of dealer that he is – the correspondence can be seen at the foot of the listing. Oddly, he tells one correspondent that he has ‘no point of reference’ as to whether or not this copy is original, though when he sold one in 2011 (as visible on popsike.com) he raised no doubts as to its being authentic, stating: ‘THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.K. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING’.”
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-_-
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The gossiping will never end because it’s a reminder that we are not susceptible to Bob’s salesman-like tact, and thus we are not the ones paying those prices. Though the sad thing of course will always be that there is are collectors out there captivated by the Djukic sales pitch.
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/161626646848?clk_rvr_id=799666117511&rmvSB=true
“original”, “first press” “authentic”…but its a Liberty…711 $ for a Liberty pressing.
1 – At the internet era, who is the guy that is still ready to spend 711 $ for a second or third press ? Dozens of site on the net show and tell what is a first Blue Note…
2 – Who are the Bob D customers ? I’d like to know at least one of them and read about his feelings.
Michel, you mean that it lacks the “P” and DG?
Shaft : looks like it lacks the P or “ear”. (Roll Call with no DG, ear (P), and 47 w, do exist).
It just goes to show … whether in used cars or used jazz LPs, do your homework, and do it well. Otherwise, as the old saying goes, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
I thought the same – MR BD should know that. He sure does not miss the “P” when it is there.
The Copy of Roll Call, BD sold for USD 711, has the ear, as one of the pictures shows (picture of dead wax area shows cat. no. and ear). But the foto of the label of Side 1 obviously shows no DG. So it´s not a Liberty pressing, but not a 1st pressing. Would I pay USD 711 for that copy ? No. Is it completely unreasonable to pay that amount? I don´t think so. I bought a sealed copy of Benny Golson´s Tune in tune out from BD for a amount of USD 15,50, quite a reasonable price I think. I asked BD, if he could open the shrink wrap for shipping to avoid seam split. He replied immediately and pleasant and will ship the record as requested. So, beside the “insane” top price items, dealing with BD can be quite enjoyable I think.
Shaft: In all fairness, I’m a firm proponent of the idea that it is not the seller’s responsibility to point out what a record is missing, but the buyer’s responsibility to make sure that what they’re looking for is there.
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Reinhard: Although that does kind of look like a ‘P’, the engraving I think you’re looking at reads ‘BN-LP’, a prefix appearing before the catalog numbers on all Van Gelder Blue Note lacquers. The seller also made it clear in their response to a buyer’s question at the bottom of the auction that the record does not have the ‘P’.
I often wonder whether sellers are ignorant or just want the paper.
For example, a seller I’ve bought from regularly who knows his stuff has a copy of the Brigitte Fontaine & Art Ensemble of Chicago LP up for auction. It is a gatefold Saravah but has later blue labels (from the 80s, I think) and no lyric booklet – so, not original in any way, though it’s listed as such. $25-$30 would be reasonable but I’m sure it’ll go for much more because of who’s selling it.
Guys, what i started asking myself in cases like these is: can sellers be sued for false claims like “original first press”, as in my understanding this would qualify as “fraud”? Or is not even a book like Fred Cohen’s really a legal proof for what can definitely be called “original first press”? Or is this the buyer’s own responsibility only?
Why not admit that Bob had great auctions this time – I haven’t seen so many sealed copies of great titles for a long time. Many of them did seem authentic, sealed in loose plastic, many quite rare originals.
This guy has to be working with shill bidders. There’s no way any sane person would pay the prices here on these auctions. Either that or the winning bidders are from countries with extremely good exchange rates……..