[78-L] Value of 78's

[Steven C. Barr]

see end...
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kristjan Saag" <saag at telia.com>
> 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.
>
The one important (to me) difference is this: Thousands, possibly HUNDREDS
of thousands, of 78rpm records were issued between 1889 and c.1935. My
intention is to obtain an example of each & every one of them...! It goes
without saying that only 1% (or less!) have ever been reissued in a newer
format...?!

We have established the vast number of reissues of Glenn Miller's 
recordings...
yet, how many OTHER bands of that era have had their efforts re-issued?!
The ONLY way to hear these other artists is via their original 78rpm
recordings...!!

True, "common" 78's (I have MANY) have very little noticeable "value"...
that is, our "Joe Gabroni" is NOT going to bring in impressive amounts
when he offers them on eWotsit...!

That is still NOT ample reason to toss them into the trash...?!

...stevenc