[78-L] 78 Prices--was:Here is the article on Tefteller and Paramount fromtheNY Times

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <soundthink at aol.com>
> The pre-war blues collectors are the only ones that are "glamorous" enough 
> to attract the mainstream media. One year it will be Tefteller, another 
> year it will be Joe Bussard. Every so often, one of these guys gets some 
> nice print coverage, while the rest of us stay beneath the radar. I think 
> this works best for us because the last thing you'd want is to have 
> speculators come in and buy up the market. This happened with baseball 
> cards and it destroyed the hobby. Speculators can't invade record 
> collecting because the records are just not around anymore. Fortunately, 
> the people with rare records and usually rare record lovers, like 
> Tefteller and Bussard. Once an investment banker, a Donald Trump, or an 
> Aaron Spelling, or somebody of that ilk decides they want to make money 
> marketing rare records as elitist collectibles, then the supply will 
> REALLY dry up.
>
A-MEN!!!!

As a dedicated pack rat, I have watched other "collecting" hobbies blaze 
up...and usually
then "crash and burn," leaving bunches of speculators holding suddenly-empty 
bags!! As
I type, there are probably MANY hapless souls stuck with "very rare and 
valuable" (?!)
Beanie Babies (TM Reg'd) which have puce tags rather than the common mauve 
ones...
which they were desperately holding onto, assuming the market might just go 
a bit
higher...?!

Collecting hobbies all try to imitate long-time genres like stamps and/or 
coins; some
durn fool will immediately publish "The 'Official' Price Guide to..." and 
then he/she/it
will be the ONLY party who actually makes any money, once that particular
collecting genre reverts to its more sane reality (of c. $0.01 per 
each...?!)?!

Note, however, that I own around 55,050 78's...about 99.9% of which are
worth $0.00/each on a GOOD day...?! Should some screaming idiot manage
to drive the "value" of routine 78's up to around ten bucks per each...well, 
I
could dump around 45,000 of the jun...er, common 78's...then take my
450 grand and see if I live to spend it (considering $450,000.00 will buy
well over a million beers, it will be a race between my liver and my net
assets...?!).

I think back wishfully to the days of Record Research, listing a few
thousand 78's with a <$1 minimum bid (I bought bunches therefrom!)...
and Don Keele's VERY-low-price 78's (which, AFAIK, he still
offers...are ya listenin' Mr. Lennick?!). I deliberately avoid all the
overpriced "rarities" since they (1) fall outside my budget, and (2)
have virtually ALL been reissued...on CD's or "pirate" 78's...?!

At some point in the near future (mebbe next month?!) I'll start
receiving my US Social Security (providing the US Of A doesn't
go spectacularly broke...an eventuality which will cause a LOT
more problems...?!)...and have about $700 a month which WON'T
be needed for survival! Mebbe then I can once again buy 78's...
with my goal of "Information On EF78REM" in mind...?!

However, even though newly "rich," I doubt if I will be sending
Kurt N a lot of bids...I can't get my head around his $3 minimum
bids...?!

...stevenc