[78-L] Clueless classical 78 rpm seller & clueless sellers in general

[eugene hayhoe]

Seems like this might fit here.
 
A couple weeks back, I was scavenging for 45s/78s, and talked to a shop owner in a small town 30 or so miles away from where I live here in mid-MI, and he told me that a few weeks back, he had gotten a large collection of records, 15,000 or so, for FREE from the town where I live; the owner had died and the family 'just wanted them outta here.' 
 
According to the recipient, 'no one in (my)  town could deal with it." I figured that was bogus, as I know several local store owners whom I thought could have been interested until I went to the guy's OTHER shop, where the records were, and spoke to a employee and discovered that apparently, they were ALL classical. 'Why'd this guy have so many dupes of Fritz Kreisler?' Turns out he was a retired music professor from MSU.
 
I was relieved when I heard they were classical, as it 'soothed my fears' about my own collection 'were I to depart unexpectedly' as mine are rock, jazz, blues & r&b in almost all formats - no 8 tracks anymore.  Actually, the only one I know that would be able to dispose of my collection in a way that is fair to my wife would be me, and that is something that I'm not much interested in, as I hope to have many more years of 'happy listening.'

I also had a 'unique' experience on the 2nd trip. 45s weren't priced.' 'Pick some out and I'll tell ya what they cost.' 
 
After I already had a big stack of 'potentials,' I was told 'mostly $1 apiece.' As that was more than I could afford, I culled to maybe 25% of what I had originally. 'These are $1, and these are $2.' 
 
'There's some CDs (in a locked case) I'd like to look at too.'
 
After looking at and choosing a half dozen or so CDs, I went to pay, only to discover that the $2  45s 'were no longer $2' as he was busy 'going to Wikipedia' (that's what he told me)  to get 'new prices' -  'some of these are $40 records!'  Disgusted (and surprised, in 45 years or so of record hunting, this was a new one to me), I just bought the CDs and $1 45s.
So, basically, I performed several hours of 'free labor' for him by sorting out for him some of his 'better' records, something he was clearly too lazy to do (and judging by his 'sort,' 'mainstream rock' from the mid-60s is the only thing he has any clue on).
 
Another odd angle is that CDs were 5 for $20, and there were a number more I would have bought at that price had I not already owned them. Which, to me, makes the 45 price issue even stranger. Dirty, unsorted, lower demand - and more expensive
 
Now the quandary - the store still has things I want to go through - will I put up with this kind of crap and the rants about 'dealers ripping him off' (I'm not a dealer) - probably. Pay, take to the car - and go back in. I'd be a much more frequent customer however w/o 'the crap.' Amazing how some people don't get that. 
 

--- On Sat, 3/3/12, Robert M. Bratcher Jr. <rbratcherjr at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Robert M. Bratcher Jr. <rbratcherjr at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Clueless classical 78 rpm seller
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Date: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 2:53 AM


I just thought his starting price was way too high. But then yes DL & I both have way too many records as we could ever play in our remaining lifetime. But then so do several other collectors on this list who also have huge overflowing record collections. Due to ever decreasing space here in my home I've had to slow down in my record collecting passion or I woudn't have a house to live in. Yes I could rent some climate controlled storage nearby however since I'm not using my big garage I think I'll turn that into my own climate controlled storage before the summer starts then I can move some of the records I've already got into the converted garage then fill it full of records over the next few years. But please don't blame the wonderful Mr. Lennick or myself for our respective comments we made recently. It was just what we said at the time the messages were sent.
 
Besides I might bid on this lot anyway......


>________________________________
>From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
>To: "78-L at 78online.com" <78-L at 78online.com> 
>Sent: Saturday, March 3, 2012 12:42 AM
>Subject: [78-L] Clueless classical 78 rpm seller
>
>I think Mr. Bratcher's judgement, supported by Mr. Lennick, is totally unfair!  While I can understand why people as recordly rich as these two are won't likely bid on this package, I believe that to a classical record collector with an average collection there is easily $300 or $400 worth of stuff here.  If I were to find a collection like this in a store, I could very easily buy that much worth of records, (as one of the above people knows from personal experience).  I wouldn't likely pay the "buy now" price for the whole lot simply because I know there would likely be lots of dups there from my collection and I value storage space, but this isn't a reflection on the seller - I believe that to the right collector, what he/she is being offered here is easily worth the asking price.  Why would you call this seller "clueless"?!
>
>db
>
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