Slightly OT: Found a haul of 50's R&B 78s at a thrift store

[52089]

Just got back from the Orlando area where I found one of the more unusual groups of 78s I've come across. In the back of an antique/thrift store, I found a bookcase with a stack of 30-40 78s. You should have seen my face as I started flipping through the stack and saw mostly mid-50s R&B labels and names. There were several Johnny Ace, Drifters, Clovers, Dominoes, Ivory Joe Hunter, Chuck Willis, Ruth Brown, Orioles, etc. Nothing super rare, and mostly wall hangers, but still to find all that in one place was a little mind blowing. I took the best 10 or so home with me on the plane today and will have a good time cleaning them up and playing the better ones.

If you're in the Orlando area and want to know where I found these, PM me. These were well worth 50 cents each, even as wall hangers!

[spin78's]

A local estate sale had a photo of a box of 78's on their website. I went to the sale Thursday and found very a large collection though nothing acoustic. They were all stored in dime store record albums, all numbered and the records inside were numbered as well. There were probably 50 of these albums mixed in with several boxes of loose 78's, 45's, and LP's. The albums were $5 each and though I try to avoid bringing home 78's from the 40's and 50's I did like the albums and they are great for storage. I picked out six matching albums and only paid $40....hum...should have bought more?
I came home with 60 records and stacked 5 on the changer. I played several 78's that morning and by noon was on my way back for more. How often do you buy 60 records at random and they are all good? I bought 20 albums on my second trip...next day I went back and bought the remaining collection. I'd like to have met the people who collected these records as they had excellent taste in music. This collection was started sometime in the very early 40's, and continued until the end of the 78 era. Even though the collection was picked several times before I got to it, I ended up with about 400 great title records.
Maybe the start of a new hobby for me?

[Henry]

Some guy who was a terrific Harry James fan donated a bunch of his records to a local thrift store. I got them for 25¢ apiece. Bought 'em all; must be about two dozen. Not a bad investment for $5 or so.