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

[simmonssomer]

Are you keeping a diary Bob?

Al Simmons

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rshirer at neb.rr.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:02 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] help req on a few 78s (prices or monetary value)


> Hi all,
> I've been lurking in Berlin since January; this time I didn't unsubscribe.
>
> There have been, over the years, quite a few comments here on Les Docks' 
> book and its value or lack thereof.  I agree with Glenn, it has its uses, 
> basically as one dealer's opinion of what things are worth.  He cares a 
> great deal about very scarce blues and early jazz, and, while I wouldn't 
> trust the prices, I think he gives a good sense of relative scarcity of 
> some of these discs most of us will never see.  He knows or cares little 
> or nothing about postwar jazz 78s, which are a particular interest of 
> mine.  One would never know from his book that bebop Blue Notes and Dials 
> are very desirable and scarce or that other regional labels can offer up 
> treasures.  His interest in old rural white music from the twenties and 
> thirties is reflected in ample listings, which, again, may be useful as 
> guides to relative scarcity.
>
> Most here will tell you, properly, that the value is what one collector 
> will pay for a given disc on a given day.  I just came to the email after 
> looking at my usual searches on Oboy.  There I saw that the Almanac 
> Singers Union album has 10 bids on it for $55.00; I sold one on the same 
> venue three or four years ago for about 20 bucks.  My unscientific sense 
> is that prices for records on Ebay have gone down over the last few years, 
> although I stopped selling there 2 years ago or so. (Except of course for 
> the ones people keep outbidding me on).  So, ultimately, all you can do is 
> get a good idea of what is out there, what people seem to be paying, and 
> collect your experience along with your records.
> Good luck,
> Bob Shirer (from a very soggy Berlin)
>