The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently read about this record setting price for a 78 rpm record, about 37k for a tommy johnson early blues disc on the paramount label. One of the articles mentioned that this particular one is so rare there are only two generally known of. Is this really possible or true? And what of this price? Has anyone followed this story by any chance...

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/a ... y-20130930

http://www.fuse.tv/2013/10/why-i-paid-3 ... one-record

There was some previous discussion of this:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... why+i+paid

brianu wrote:Is this really possible or true?

There's some records that were known to be released that are not known to exist in one surviving copy.

I suspect that "Original Stack O'Lee Blues" by Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull could fetch an even high a price. However, we may never know; the owner of the only-known surviving copy, Joe Bussard, swears he will be buried with it.

Torjazzer wrote:I suspect that "Original Stack O'Lee Blues" by Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull could fetch an even high a price. However, we may never know; the owner of the only-known surviving copy, Joe Bussard, swears he will be buried with it.

Joe has said he wants to auction off his collection before he dies, so, start saving your pennies in case he changes his mind. I bet he will.

Wolfe wrote:

Torjazzer wrote:I suspect that "Original Stack O'Lee Blues" by Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull could fetch an even high a price. However, we may never know; the owner of the only-known surviving copy, Joe Bussard, swears he will be buried with it.

Joe has said he wants to auction off his collection before he dies, so, start saving your pennies in case he changes his mind. I bet he will.

I heard that only a few records, of which he has more than one copy, will be auctioned. His greatest fear is that they will be traded for money and not shared for their historical importance. He certainly doesn't want his collection to be absorbed by the Library Of Congress where, he claims, it will be lost and forgotten like so many other artifacts. Recently I read an interview in which he stated that his daughter and son-in-law will inherit the lion's share when he passes.

The interview I saw (at age 76) said he wants to sell them and have other collectors get to enjoy them rather than being lost in some institution like the LOC, so, who knows.

It'll be like a pack of hungry cannibals on a 105 pound tourist if he does decide to set up an auction.