The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Glenn-Miller- ... 1434499211

It's just one example. There are several UK sellers who regularly sell common records for many tens of pounds. I'm not talking about rare discs. I'm talking about discs that you could find in any charity shop a decade or so back. The more interesting things can hit £100, and by interesting, I mean something that you'd have to look a bit harder for in nice condition - they're still discs that many (most?) normal collectors will have seen.

Yet meanwhile on the facebook "78 rpm records & cylinders fan group" there are collectors buying much rarer (and, in my opinion, far more valuable) records for 50p each. Which is about what I would pay Still do, at car boot sales, some antique shops, etc.


I understand sellers who sell hard to find records for tens, hundreds, even thousands of pounds. I get that. While I wouldn't pay it myself, for someone who really wants that record during their life time, they have little choice.

But honestly, 40s and 50s records that sold by the million going for £20? Christmas 78s going for £30-£60?

Who is spending that money?

Cheers,
David.

P.S. though I noticed that record players from the 1960s and 1970s, even 1980s, are now often heading over £100 while many gramophones struggle too.

Things must be very different in the UK. Common Glenn Miller 78s here across the pond are in the 50 cents/1 dollar range in most cases. And 60s/70s stereos priced far under $100 sit gathering dust in thrift stores.

Clay

I suspect that laziness is a factor. The internet has bred a generation of couch potatoes who live their lives (if you can call it living) on line.

It would never occur to these people to visit car boot sales, flea markets, secondhand shops or their local auction rooms. Everything must be available at the click of a mouse.

I paid $375.09 for a very rare center start Pathé by Gene Greene that I recently won on EBay.It's the most that I've paid for one record in my 40 years of collecting.I don't think anyone would throw stones at me for paying that much,but,hey,it was something I really wanted!And,you don't see those Pathés every day as opposed to Glenn Miller. edisonplayer

Ah, but do they sell for those ludicrous prices? If you check the feedback of the vast majority of the sellers, you'll see that very rarely do they actually sell one of their overpriced discs.

I recently contacted a well-known eBay seller who was trying to sell dozens of very common discs from the fifties at £10 each, asking him if he would be interested in buying 200 similar discs, in good condition, for 20p each. Needless to say, no reply.

I have stomped through antique shops, junk shops, charity shops, flea markets, yard sales, etc. for nearly 50 years and rarely found records as rare as what I can find on eBay nearly every week. Yes, finding a rare record "in the wild" for a bargain can be a thrill, but that rarely happens enough to justify the expenditure of gasoline, shoe leather and time. Of course, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, or going to Union. But, most of my spectacular finds have been on eBay and I usually pay dearly for them. If I want to find and enjoy certain things in one short lifetime, buying online the most expedient way. I'd rather pay now than daydream about them.

Ah yes, but really rare records and ordinary "dime-a-dozen" ones are two entirely different things. It is the overpriced ones in the latter category causing the head scratching.

And as another commenter noted, what is asked on eBay and what one can actually get are also often two entirely different things.

Clay

Phono48 wrote:Ah, but do they sell for those ludicrous prices?

Yes, those are in the completed listings, shown in green without strikethrough (i.e. sold for that price, not a lower offer, not ended without being sold). That particular one has already received feedback, and is listed in the seller's feedback list: "Great product, timely delivery. A++".

I know there are lots of stupidly priced records on eBay that don't sell, but ultra common really popular titles often sell for silly money.

Looking at the same record in the USA, it seems there were people happy to pay $20 and $30 for their copy over there, so it's not just a UK thing.


I think you're right epigramophone - plus, if you never go looking, you will never know what's out there and will think eBay is the whole world.

And of course VintageTechnologies you are right too, but it wasn't the prices of those records that I was questioning.

Cheers,
David.

While writing previously, I was thinking more toward the astronomical prices asked for "the good stuff". But no question, there are silly prices asked and realized for common-as-dirt records. I can't decide which is more sad, the shyster sellers or the people who buy their wares. Say, is there anyone out there that wants to buy some Bing Crosby "White Christmas" records for only $100 each? They are "in good shape for records that old".

In the U.S. many people live out in rural areas many, many miles from anywhere a 78 would be. Or they live in places that weren't densely populated during the 78 area. Trying poking around a place like Alaska sometime, and see what you come up with.

Still, if I was confronted with having pay 100 dollars for common Glenn Miller, because I live where there are no 78's, I think I'd make myself satisfied with CD reissues.