[78-L] help req on a few 78s (prieces or monetary value)

[Michael Biel]

P G C wrote:
> Excuse my English grammar.
>   

Much better than my Spanish would be!!!!

> I have noticed that the experts in the list are reluctant to give 
> price estimates or any monetary expectations. It is understandable, 
> but some newbies like me would like to have  a comment with a list of 
> rules, criteria or the like. General "finger rules" we call it in 
> Spanish.
>   

There are enough of us old timers around who remember the days of the 50 
cent minimum bid of Lenny Kunstadt's "Record Research" lists, and 
junking  78s for 10 cents at the Salvation Army type stores.  We are 
reluctant to admit to the $3.00 minimum bid on a Nauck list.  And we 
strive for getting records on Ebay for the 99 cent opening bid, or a lot 
of 100 records for $9.99.  So we won't admit to the record being worth 
$50!  As the records get older and older, sellers tend to think they are 
worth more and more, but ordinary records are really still worth only 10 
cents or 25 cents because they are still too common and not interesting 
to listen to.  But even in the 1930s there were some jazz and blues from 
the 20s that were worth $25 or $50 back then despite being only ten 
years old, or opera records that were 20 years old going for that same 
amount..  I've seen want lists and sale lists from that era.  These are 
the records that are now worth $500 or $2000.  But the adjacent catalog 
number might only be still worth 50 cents.
That is why we are reluctant to give price estimates.

There have been times on this list when someone spots a high price on an 
e-say item that seems out of place but there are bids.  We ask the list 
"why?"   Sometimes a dealer puts up ten records and nine of them get no 
bids or only one bid at 99 cents, but there is one record that goes for 
$500.  Why?  Sometimes we know, but sometimes it surprises even the 
experts.

> Also a comment of the more likely vaue of very common 78rpm bases on 
> the condition or preservation.
> As always, a link to some book or article in the web will help.
> Regards, JorgeF. (PGC)
>  __,,,^..^,,,__
>
>   

I wrote about the first record price guides when they started to be 
published in the late 70s.  The stamp and coin collectors had long had 
price guides that were full stamp catalogs like Scott and Harris.  But 
this was unusual for records.  In the stamp world, the Scott prices are 
GOD.  All dealers work around the catalog prices and watch them every 
year when the new catalog comes out.  But the record price guides have 
not accepted in the same way by record collectors, and this surprises 
the non-expert dealers.  The guides are not accurate enough.  The 
quantity of dealers and collectors is much smaller than in the stamp 
world.  A catalog like Scott is published by a company with hundreds of 
employees checking thousands of dealers and tens of thousands of stamp 
collectors.  Most record price guides are the product of one person.  
That writer has personal tastes in music.  Stamps are collected by 
people who are looking to complete a series, or country.  Records are 
collected by people who like one type of music and do not line another 
type of music.  Stamp collectors do not descriminate like that.  They do 
not reject a stamp in a series because they do not like, for example, 
orange stamps.  They need to fill that blank in their book.  (There are 
"topical" stamp collectors, I am one of them, but this is a small part 
of the hobby.  But if a collector collects stamps with cats on them, 
they don't reject a stamp in a series because they don't like that breed 
of cat.) 

For these reasons, the record price guides can never be exact like stamp 
price catalogs.  That being said, a good general guide to 78s is Les 
Docks' "American Premium Record Guide."   It does not cover classical 
and some other specialties, and he tends to have performers that he 
ignores or lists as insignificant.  Post 1950 gets covered in Tim 
Neely's "Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records" but he is more 
familiar with rock than our types of music.  Jones' Comedy Record Price 
Guide, and Peter Muldavin's "Complete Guide to Vintage Childrens 
Records" are GREAT!, but the prices are in them only because the 
publisher would only do the book if it was a price guide.
I tend to use these books only as discographies or finding aids.  I 
cringe when I see a well worn copy of one of these guides behind the 
counter at a collectors record shop.  But they serve to help a 
non-expert generalist antique dealer find out if they have stumbled onto 
a record or type of record that might be worth $50 instead of 50 cents.  
While that might keep you from finding the bargain, and might serve to 
overprice the rest of them, it keeps the valuable records from being 
dumped, and eventually the unsold records will be reduced in price.
The others will chime in on their opinions, and maybe list a few other 
books.  Classical and opera guides, anyone?  (The Julian Morton Moses 
prices are from 1948 for pete's sake!)

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
> ________________________________
> From: William A. Brent <bbrent at pipeline.com>
>
> A friend dropped off a bunch of 78s and asked the magic question
> "Are these worth anything, they're really old"
> I gave my pat answer - "They're only worth what some one will pay for 
> them"
> (at least in terms of dollars)
>
>
> Bill
>