[78-L] Value of 78's

[Kristjan Saag]

John Moore wrote:

> Can anyone help me over this matter? I do have a small collection of 100
> 78's of various british dance bands. I just wondered if, vinyl lp's and
> singles are worth large sums of money in most then, how about these old
> 78's?
--
My guess is: with more and more recorded material being available on the 
net, the 78's will suffer the same fate as CD's and LP's. A few second hand 
LP stores are still doing all right, but many have closed all over the 
world, even in big cities with large potential customer crowds, like London 
and New York.
The future of 78's might be the one that you glimpse on youtube: people who 
are making a ritual of playing the records on original equipment. We've seen 
this development for vinyl: not only reissues of vinyl albums but a revival 
of hardware as well: even turntables manufactured by big companies like Sony 
etc.
Just the other day two of Sweden's most popular rock groups issued their 
latest singles as "special pressings". One with a pressing (actually an 
instantaneous "vinyl cut") of three copies, the other of just one dubplate, 
which was glued to a real turntable with the group's signatures on the 
plastic cover and all auctioned away for about 3 000 dollars.
http://www.bobhund.nu/

In the near future I'll bet we'll see a real revival of the 1940's and 
1950's radio gramophones and similar equipment as "lifestyle" commodities. 
The standard 78's will go with them. But the collector's part of the game 
always depends on alternatives. When the big collector's boom for vinyl 45's 
and albums began the CD was young and many of the rare recordings were 
actually impossible to find in other formats.
Today that's different. And, apart from a small minority, perfectly served 
by Kurt Nauck & co, most new 78 "collectors" will be satisfied with a 
playing device and a handful of shining shellacs.
Which means that the vast majority of 78's will fall in the same category as 
the beloved Patti Page and Ronnie Ronalde discs - no matter how famous the 
big bands and dance orchestras are on the labels.
I'm saying this, despite the fact that I have a few thousand of these 
musical gems in my basement...
Need a few dozen 1930's Ellington's or 1940's Geraldo's? Write me off list. 
You're my friend. I'll give you a good price.
Kristjan