Vinyl records making a comeback with collectors
- Thread starter Wigwam Jones
- Start date
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
That author really has a pulse on 2004. Kudos to him.
Seemed topical to me, but I guess snark is the default mode around here.
grooveman
Super Member
I also enjoy Exotica, Lounge, Space Age and 50's era Big Band. Martin Denny, Les Baxter and Les and Larry Elgart to name a few. Are well worth checking out......very well recorded for the time! That said.....I haven't run across their stuff on vinyl at the thrifts in quite some time.....maybe the word's out!
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
I don't see a lot of it, except Big Band, including Larry Elgart, but I do see some from time to time; if it's in good shape, I usually pick it up if it's cheap enough. I have a few Martin Denny albums that just don't seem to make me think they were recorded all that well, but that's really the exception. Most of the stuff on Command or Project 3 or London Phase 4 were all pretty well-recorded to my way of thinking.
However, what I do discover is that lots of what was not generally known as 'Space Age', etc, actually can be seen that way. I recently 'discovered' James Last, OMG, what a weirdo. I usually do some searching online AFTER I have found someone new to me, and often they show up in the Space Age Pop page somewhere or another. I should spend more time reading that thing.
http://www.spaceagepop.com/
That author really has a pulse on 2004. Kudos to him.
That was my take on it as well. No snark intended. Maybe things happen ahead of the curve in Chicago, maybe not. As it is, things certainly have been increasing at a steady state for awhile, and its feeling lately like a peak has been reached or at least a plateau, with an almost undeniable drop in interest in high-end audio circles, though a steady interest as there has been for the pats 5 - 7 years in 20-something collectors/non-gear-heads. But to just notice the vinyl resurgence now is confusing to me. Its been obvious for years here.
krisjay
Super Member
You mean poor attempts to be snark. I thought the topic of vinyl collecting in 2013 was fairly relevant, but hey, I buy 50 year old sealed records and don't open them(hence the term collecting), what do I know. There are those brilliant people who would probably break the seal on a 1st state Butcher Cover.
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
My point was just that at least here in SE Michigan, a year ago the thrift stores were throwing away donated vinyl and now it's flying out the door. In 2004, I can't say, because I wasn't buying thrift store vinyl much myself, but as I lived in NC at the time and did buy a few vinyl records in thrift shops there, I can say that from my observation, I was about the only guy digging through the stacks. I did see the occasional, er, teenagish mopey-looking person, usually a female. I think they call them what, emo? Shoegazers? Anyway, not to put them down, but that's what I saw. No one my age, no one seriously hunting records.
Maybe other parts of the country move faster than NC and MI. I only know what I have seen.
And I remember when my favorite used record store, JB&H, closed down in Lakewood, CO, back in the last part of the 1980s (as I recall). Sad days, but at the time, it seemed CD had murdered the used LP market dead. I had not really seen a resurgence (except in NEW vinyl, which admittedly started coming back long before now) until recently, like the last year or so.
grooveman
Super Member
I never did on mine. Sold my 1st state sealed mono butcher for 5 figures in 2006 and never looked back!
krisjay
Super Member
How did you ever sell it, it might have been warped, lol.
Ths364
Super Member
In Re: Goodwill employees cherry-picking stuff- I know people that used to volunteer at GW just to be able to claim good stuff as it came in. Policy was changed- nor more cherry picking, and I believe even employees have to wait a period of time after stuff hits the shelf before they can buy it. I heard 48 hrs, but I don't have confirmation of that.
KrisM
Lunatic Member
You say that like it's a bad thing. I thought you enjoyed a snarky comment?
But what do I know, I was hitting the thrifts for vinyl around here in 2003, watched the amount of customers increase in years after that, and now see less ten years later during my visits. On average, of course.
It was just a joke about an article that is at least ten years late, in my experience. It's topical, but I still found it funny.
krisjay
Super Member
There have been a few of those threads lately, someone complaining that a Goodwill or thrift store employee is getting a piece of vinyl or gear before they have a chance to. To me, and maybe Im crazy, isnt there something in your life a bit more important then a record at Goodwill? Does that really bother people, is that worth being bothered about.
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
You're right, I apologize. I'm adjusting to this new me, where I have to watch everything I say and do. Takes some getting used to. I really don't like wearing a muzzle. Not your fault, my problem.
You're right. I wish to hell I wasn't feeling this way. Sorry.
grooveman
Super Member
The collector wasn't concerned if the record inside could be possibly warped. The value was in owning a 1st state sealed butcher cover, which he had no intension of ever opening. Believe it or not I sold it privately and was put in touch with the other collector through another fellow Beatles collector.
Sealed mono 1st states are very rare. But keep in mind there's at least 100 or more in circulation, that were kept as potential collectibles by ex Capitol employees and stashed away over the years. A sealed 1st state stereo butcher is far less common and commands very high prices. Sealed 1st state monos are out there, if you're willing to pay the price.
I was lucky to score mine back in 1978 from a seller located in Florida, who ran a rare rock records mailing list. It allegedly came from out of the Record Bar chain. I paid $500 for it back then, which was a considerable sum in 1978.
Over the years I've sold most of my very rare US Beatles record collection for a pretty tidy sum. i still own a core collection for listening purposes, but collecting rare Beatles label variations and covers is something I'm not really involved with anymore.
krisjay
Super Member
I know I was being a smartass in reference to the post above about that 50 year old record possibly being warped. It sounded like that person didnt understand that people buy records on many occasions with no intention of ever opening them. I fully understand how and why your 1st state sealed Butcher Cover sold, and why the buyer will never open it, and also why the buyer isnt worried about whether it was warped inside or not. Now what was this thread about?
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
Yeah, I happened to be perusing Google Maps the other day, looking at thrift stores to explore, and I found what I *thought* was a used record store, but it wasn't!
https://plus.google.com/104584824271056208523/about?gl=us&hl=en
Part of me was OUTRAGED! And then part of me was just laughing. Yes, I'll bet they buy a lot of thrift store records. AND MELT THEM!
What can you do? Whether it's employees cherry-picking records, or others buying records to melt them and made salad bowls out of them, life goes on. It's not that important.
krisjay
Super Member
Indeed.
KrisM
Lunatic Member
No need to apologize. To be honest, I assumed you would have thought it was funny.:thmbsp:
I really do think there is a regional thing going on, though. Around 03/04 I was usually the only person looking at lps in GW. They were $1 or ten for $5. The amount of people looking went up quickly, and some were a-holes. Almost competitive. Now? They are priced at $2 or $3, and not many people are looking through the racks. The Value Village that is close to my nearest GW actually prices records. So, as an example, you might find a nice Beatles album, but it will be priced over $25, just like a record store. Except they don't have a table to audition it on and they won't take a return.
I don't say this as a complaint about thrifts(that's a no-no), but to just point out that the "vinyl is hip" thing passed through here years ago. Even the thrifts jumped on it.
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
I did. But I was also like "Hey, *I* can't say that, why is it OK when *he* does?" Like I said, my bad.
To the best of my knowledge, that has not happened here, or at least not yet. I have noticed a few changes, though.
There were a few thrift stores that no longer carried vinyl. If you asked where the records were, they stared at you like you were speaking Klingon with three heads. That was a year ago in this area.
Then, until like a month ago, a couple of the larger thrift stores had vinyl priced to get rid of it, five for a dollar. They are now at one dollar each, so that's gone.
Most thrifts in this area seem to be somewhere between 2 for a dollar and a buck each. A couple try to get two bucks per LP, but I don't think anyone is buying. Just my observation.
There is a large indoor flea market near me (so upscale; it's where you do if you don't want to dress up to go to Walmart) and there are several vinyl vendors inside. One lady has everything catagorized, racked neatly, and wants $8 to $20 per LP. I'm sure she has good stuff, but not for me. Another guy has boxes and boxes and boxes down on the floor, dusty, dirty, shoved in every which way, a buck apiece. Dig through them to your heart's content, or for as long as you can stand the dirty diaper smell that wafts on the breeze inside the flea market.
Then you've got your estate sales, which typically seem to want $2 to $5 per record on Friday or Saturday, and $10 for the entire box of whatever is left over on Sunday. If you don't want to pay the $10, just hit the closest thrift store near the estate sale the next week and they'll be there. They donate to get the tax deduction, rather than dump them in the skid behind the house.
So by and large, although interest does seem to be picking up in SE Michigan, it's not like where you are, and it's only recently started firing up, in my limited experience.
I have started making plans to take mini-road-trips to visit thrifts in more rural areas, hoping to find some treasures. You never know, right?
And of course, there's the recent listing I ran on CL, asking people to just give me their unwanted records for free. No misrepresentation, I just said I would pick them up and my wife and I would enjoy listening to them. I got two responses, one of which was over 1,000 records, mostly boxed sets, and the other which was about 150 or so records and a turntable. I ran into a guy at a local thrift store recently who was doing the exact same thing and had had the exact same response. Kind of funny, actually. Nice guy too.