I've bought four or five collections off of CL, averaging about 550 records per...the largest was 800 albums. One of the collections was fantastic, beyond my wildest dreams [Zeppelin, Who, Beatles, Dead, Dave Grisman, Kinks, Rundgren, Miles Davis etc. etc]. And a couple were nearly worthless, unless you want 61 copies of the 1973 Florida Full Gospel Baptist Church Choir [no disrespect intended, seriously.] If you can, politely ask for a description of the crate contents. You might not want 270 country & western LPs...if they can't readily look through it all, ask if you can quickly glance through it all to get an idea... finally, manage your expectations. Somebody might have everything the Rolling Stones ever recorded, and that's great...but they also might have everything Percy Faith cut, too. There are often random, lucky finds: a German-produced Marianne Faithful EP; an original, first pressing of Love's Forever Changes; a 'bachelor party' album with a quite nude cover from 1964... I will spend many hours cleaning, repairing the jackets, listening, learning. Found a love letter from a groovy girl to her guy, dated 1975. A receipt from a Sound Warehouse for the Police's Synchronicity. A decal for a Texas license plate. In a way, you're taking on a quite personal and likely emotional segment of a person's life. {ok, too much tequila-enhanced emotionalism.} But try to ascertain some notion of the collection. And donate the rest to a local charitable thrift store. PS - every example listed above has happened to me.
