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

[Michael Biel]

I've seen records become an investment item before, back in the 80s, but
investors found that they were not easily liquidatable, which is
essential for an investment commodity. There has to be a dependable
secondary aftermarket like art, stamps and coins.  Beanie Babies had a
limited aftermarket which folded when people came to their senses and
realized that there was no intrinsic value to them, something that IS
present in art, stamps, coins, and also records.  I scoffed when Zulu's
Ball was sold for a reported $4280 around 1979, saying that unless it
was being purchased to make money via reissue -- which it was -- would
it be possible to eventually sell it for more than that same money would
have made in interest in a bank account.  During that era the interest
rates were substantially higher than they are now, and although I think
they did double their money, the bank account would have made more.  If
Tefteller is buying records for tens of thousands of dollars, and has a
standing offer of $25K for two certain records, he is already paying
top-of-the-market prices.  The profit is being made by the person
selling him the record.  He is in the business of selling records and
would supposedly know what the market will bear, but how many others up
at this stratospheric high level of collecting are there?  

Mike (pauper) Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  



----- 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.



From: "Steven C. Barr" <stevenc at interlinks.net>
> 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...?!)?!