[78-L] Tefteller strikes again

[Cary Ginell]

There's an image of Tefteller proudly holding his VG- copy of this rare Sun disc.

 

Guess someone had to have it. I know that I'd never pay this much for a worn-out 45, no matter what it was...

 

 

Cary Ginell

 

 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEFTELLER WINS ONE OF A KIND, PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN SUN LABEL 45 FOR OVER
$10,000.00!

Blues Collector and longtime Rare Records dealer John Tefteller won a
recent eBay auction which featured a previously unknown and potentially
one of a kind Blues 45 rpm record produced by the Sun label back in 1953.
"I think I stole it," said Tefteller of the record when the auction ended
with his winning bid of $10,323.00.

The record, "Lonesome Old Jail" and "Greyhound Blues," features an
outstanding old style acoustic Blues performance by Alabama Blues singer
D. A. Hunt. It was Hunt's first and only record and sold very, very few
copies when first released by Sam Phillips' now legendary Sun records
label of Memphis, Tennessee. The Sun label is most famous for being the
first to record Elvis Presley and is credited as being the label that
started Rock and Roll, but the first couple dozen releases were almost
exclusively Blues records.

"This record was not previously known to exist on 45 rpm and even the 78
rpm version is one of the rarest and most expensive on the Sun label with
several documented sales in excess of $10,000.00," explained Tefteller.
"To find a 45 is discovery of monumental importance to the record
collecting world and I just had to have it.”

Of course, the latest addition to Tefteller's Blues collection, already
referred to by many as the best in the world, means that all the history
books, price guides and discographies have to be amended to now state
unequivocally, that yes, there is indeed an original 45 rpm pressing of
Sun # 183.

Tefteller goes on to explain that when the British record researchers
first came to America in the late 1950's, they went to Sun and, with
assistance from Sam Phillips, documented everything. 78 rpm stampers were
found for # 183, but NOT 45 rpm stampers and Phillips told the researchers
that NO 45's were made.

"This discovery proves otherwise," says Tefteller, who speculates that
they probably pressed a few hundred and that was it. "Sam must have just
forgotten that he made a small amount of 45's and, significantly, this is
NOT a promotional copy, which means that they made some promos as well as
regular copies for the stores."

The copy of Sun 183 that Tefteller won on eBay from Minnesota seller Tim
Schloe is not in the best of condition. "I would grade it at VG- which in
the world of record collecting means it is pretty well used and abused,”
Tefteller states. “There is some damage to the labels as well, but the
record does indeed play all the way through and is not totally unpleasant
to look it. But all that doesn't really matter because it is so impossibly
rare. No one, myself included, ever dreamed that this existed on 45. It is
mindboggling that since 1953 only one of these has ever surfaced and to
surface in 2009 is unbelievable!"

Schloe says he got the record "as part of a large collection of used 45's
that I bought from the estate of a Dallas, Texas collector who had left
them to his brother." Schloe knew the record was rare when he found it in
the rubble of thousands of old 45's but had "no idea" it would bring over
$10,000.00. Tefteller is certain that the Texas collector could not have
known it was so rare either or he would have told someone he had it or
sold it while he was alive.

According to Tefteller, the world of Sun record collecting has just been
turned on its head. “Guys who thought they had them all are now scrambling
to find another legitimate copy. This will prove to be quite a challenge
however as no other copy has surfaced in over 50 years. There are hundreds
of bootleg copies of this title out there on 45 rpm but so far, I now have
the only legitimate one," boasts Tefteller. "I've got it, and I have no
plans to sell it. After all, I can't say I have the top collection of
Blues records in the world if I let this one go."

While some people may not understand why a collector would pay over
$10,000.00 for a beat up old 45 rpm record when you can easily hear both
sides of this one in top sound on a reissue CD or a 99 cent Internet
download, Tefteller has a ready answer: "You can go to the Louvre and buy
a 99 cent postcard of the Mona Lisa too, but there is nothing that beats
the history and importance of actually owning the original!"

Tefteller, 50, lives in Grants Pass, Oregon and has been buying, selling
and collecting rare phonograph records for 35 years. He also produces a
yearly Blues calendar and has a series of reissue CD's on the market of
extremely rare Blues performances from the 1920's. His personal collection
contains thousands of original Blues 78 rpm records including dozens of
one-of-a-kind records by Blues singers. Tefteller also maintains the
world's most extensive collection of original Blues advertising art and
photographs.

John Tefteller can be contacted at 1-800-955-1326 or 1-541-659-7175 or
john at tefteller.com or www.bluesimages.com <http://www.bluesimages.com/>  or www.tefteller.com <http://www.tefteller.com/> 

Tim Schloe can be contacted at 651-373-0065


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