[78-L] Records - LOTS - in Westbury NY on Saturday

[Michael Biel]

Your luck and descriptions of the sales out in Long Island sounds much
like it was in the Evanston Illinois area back when I was at
Northwestern between 68 and 72.  In addition to the garage sales, there
were Estate Sales, and many of those were at the old Victorian mansions
lining the North Shore from northern Chicago thru Wilmette and Winnetka.
 Many of the old families were dying out and many had gotten records in
their youth back in the early century and were living in the same house
all these years.  The Evanston News would come out on Thursday morning
and although I am not now nor have ever been a morning person, my wife
(who IS a morning person) was a nurse at Evanston Hospital and I often
had to drive her to work by 7 AM.  So I'd drop her off, get a paper, map
out the sales for Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sunday, and hit the road.  Then
I'd either get to my classes, or take a nap when finished.  But that
area was a gold mine back then.  I only wish I were not just a starving
grad student and had some real money to spend!!  I don't find much stuff
our here in Brooklyn when visiting Leah or in my part of Kentucky, but
there had been some good country stuff in Kentucky when I got there in
the late 70s.  Not now.  The old folks are already gone.  In Brooklyn,
apartments are too small and prices to high -- things apparently are
different in Long Island.  But it does help to get out early, and as I
said, I am not a morning person.


Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com    




  -------- Original Message --------

 From: "zimrec at juno.com" <zimrec at juno.com>

 
 Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:43:42 -0400
 From: Steve Ramm <steveramm78l at hotmail.com>
 I get emails with estate sales and today this one popped up. 
Doesn't look great but apparently LOTS of Vinyl.
  Anyway it is tomorrow so thought I'd post for the New Yawkers.
  http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/79092.aspx
  Steve
 
 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
 
 This is also more commonly referred to as a tag sale here in the
northeastern USA. The term is also used in parts outside the northeast,
but is completely unknown in other parts of this country. I’ve been
going to them for years and, here on Long Island, have found quantities
of 78s that I couldn’t even begin to count. Occasionally held mid-week,
99 percent of them are held on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Some are two
day sales. Based on the classified ad listings in Newsday, the Long
Island daily, on any given Friday through Sunday, there are at least 8
or 10 of them, sometimes maybe even 30 in the two counties east NY City
and in the borough of Queens. The term tag sale originated from the
sales where items in the homes had price tags or stickers, but today,
more frequently, most of the items are not individually priced. The
larger items, such as furniture, usually do have price tags.
 
 I’ve gotten to know several of the people who run them locally. You
can often tell who they are based on the heading in the ad. There’s
Junkbuster, Full of Surprises, Finds, Ace, Sisters in Charge, among
others. Some are easy to bargain with, while others, like Mona of
Junkbuster, is pretty stern. Some charge sales tax, others don’t. The
one in Westbury to which Steve Ramm referred is 2muchstuff4me, run by
Brian Ellison, who seems always to have a large wad of cash and often
has an inflated idea of what things are worth. I’ve sometimes left
records or sheet music at his sales when I felt the price he quoted was
too high. It doesn’t seem to bother him that people don’t buy things
after he quotes a price. The person I like best is the woman whose ads
end “Please join us at 
”
 
 In recent times, here on Long Island, entrance to tag sales is based on
numbers. In most cases, there’s no official person handing out numbers.
Rather, the first person to show up gets that right. It’s sort of an
accepted way of keeping order. But, while some of the tag sale operators
go by numbers, others don’t. So, basically, you show up early,
sometimes two or four hours – or more – before a 9 or 10 o’clock
sale, get your number and then return about a half hour before the
scheduled start time and queue up according to number.
 
 Brian’s sales always start at 8 in the morning. As the Westbury sale
was only a few miles from my home – less than a mile from Holy Rood
cemetery – I drove to the house at 5:30 where, not unexpectedly, I
found this fellow Jimmy handing out numbers. He gave me number 11. Jimmy
is of my competition, almost always at tag sales where records are
advertised. He buys jazz and rock LPs, 45s, 78s and CDs. I went back
home to eat breakfast. When I arrived back at the house at 7:30, there
were several other of the record collectors and dealers already milling
around. When the doors opened, Brian’s helper let in the first 15 or 20
people on queue. The ad said over 10,000 records. I didn’t count, but I
don’t think there were 10,000. Maybe 5,000 to 8,000. Some on the main
floor, some in the basement and others in the garage. At least 40
percent to half were 12-inch disco singles. The others were LPs of the
period. And Brian wanted two dollars each, compared to most other tag
sale operators who charge half that.
 
 I didn’t have the patience to go through more than a few boxes,
hearing from the other record people there that it was all the same kind
of stuff. I left empty handed and headed a short distance away where
Please Join Us had a sale. There, after looking through perhaps 100-plus
78s, I took a handful from the 1920s along with some other items. I was
quoted a single price for everything in my hands, so I can’t say how
much the 78s were individually on average, but probably not more than 25
cents each.
 
 Yesterday, my mom, who is a great scout for 78s, called me from a tag
sale run by Sisters In Charge. The ad didn’t mention records, which is
odd since that is one of the items that attracts people to the sales. My
mom was able to pick up several British dance band and vocals from the
mid-late 1920s. Most were not in the best condition, but it doesn’t
matter because included in the lot was a 12-inch Victor of a President
Harding speech in 1921 in mint condition, the only American pressing.
All that, and a kid’s jig saw puzzle for her great grandchild cost my
mom only two dollars.
 
 It wasn’t until this past spring that I discovered that, when it comes
to 78s other than post-WWII rock and blues, I seem to have no
competition. Jimmy, who I’ve known for several years, doesn’t collect
or know the early recordings. The way I discovered that was a Junkbuster
sale that advertised “hundreds of 78s.” I arrived with my mother 90
minutes before the sale only to find Jimmy had a low number while we got
23 and 24. When the doors opened at ten, Jimmy was one of the first
inside. We didn’t get in until 30 minutes later. We found Jimmy in a
small room in the basement where there were not hundreds, but rather
2000 to 3000 78s. Jimmy already had a basket partly loaded, but
completely ignored the pre-War records. I eventually bought about 130,
mostly 1920s and early 1930s. Many had suffered heat damage, and I had
to leave more than twice that because of condition problems. Still, I
came home with about ten blue shellac Columbias and a bunch of
Brunswicks, not to mention other oddities, including a Bennet’s
Swamplanders. The house, so I was told by one of Mona’s helpers, had
been a speakeasy and, at one time, had a juke box. But seeing all those
goodies in such bad condition really hurt.
 
 I have no idea why I’ve been so lucky finding so many 78s at tag sale.
a couple weeks ago, I looked through several hundred 78s, coming home
with 86 records, mostly mid-1920s to early 1930s, costing me $23. A
large chunk of them were Brunswicks in E or E-plus condition. The lot
included two of the 10-inch Victor 33 rpm Program Transcription discs,
one of which was the demo.
 
 Art
 
 
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