eBay folk rarities alert

Subject: EBay folk rarities alert
From: GUEST,Ian A
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 09:12 PM

It's possible some of you will be interested in a batch of rare folk-and-connected LPs my daughter has started to put on EBay, including the four Trailer Nic Jones LPs (we will be donating a third of the proceeds to Nic), various other Leaders (the Coppers box, Joseph Taylor, Billy Pigg), EFDSS LPs inc Harry Cox, quite a few of the strangely sought-after Village Thing label and some of the rare US Poppy label including the first two Chris Smithers and Eric Von Schmidt. Clearing a cluttered and now turntable-free house of some collectable but long-unplayed vinyl! See them here, more to come. (The reserve prices are well under what many of these have been seen to fetch previously)

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 04:12 AM

How much? Bleedin' hell! At those prices I could sell my (unplayed, alas!) Nic Jones collection and buy myself something quite nice. I'll keep at watch on those, and if they sell then watch out for more!

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 05:25 AM

Jings crivens, someone is trying to finance a new car or something.
Sorry, but the prices are a bit ambitious.

JM

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: matt milton
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 07:22 AM

apparently that's what some ker-razee collectors are willing to pay.

Personally, in these Babylonian end-days of the music industry, with robber-baron illegal dowload sites, I find it reassuring that there are still lunatic commodity-fetishists out there prepared to pay vast sums of money for dusty hunks of old vinyl.

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 07:23 AM

Having seen the prices being asked I think I will have to either up the Insurance on my record collection (if I keep them), or sell them off and buy a cottage in the country

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Folknacious
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 08:09 AM

I like the notion that a third of the proceeds from the Nics will go to Nic. I imagine that could compare very well with what he might have earned in royalties off their original releases if the prices reach some I've seen them go for - from $400-$600 each! Shame Mr Bulmer couldn't be so decent. Hope others follow suit if they put theirs on the market.

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: theleveller
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 08:34 AM

Blimey. Makes me wonder what my vinyl collection is worth - not least the orginal Stones' Sticky Fingers with zip intact.

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Folknacious
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 09:01 AM

I suspect that Sticky Fingers probably sold a LOT more than Nic Jones' "Ballads & Songs" or The Sun Also Rises. I think that rarity is a big factor - I see that the Village Thing Chris Thompson on that list already has an £80 bid, but it's apparently like teeths of hens. Vinyl Attic says "An interesting story, this. Most copies were reputedly destroyed (chucked in a river!) by distributor, Transatlantic records: only 101 copies were sold, and the other 899 destroyed. Chris Thompson was (still is) a New Zealand musician who came over in 1971, backed Julie Felix, and made the album between 1971 and 1973 with Keshav Sathe and Clem Atford from Magic Carpet, and Ed Deane from the Woods Band."

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: GUEST,Ian A
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 10:24 AM

On advice, she's reduced the reserve prices on the 4 Nic Jones LPs, even though we've seen them sell for £300 up. May mean Nic gets less, but no doubt something's better than nothing. Good to see bids on the two Harry Coxs already though:

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Reinhard
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 11:19 AM

Fortunately I have the most important albums of that lot, including Nic Jones, the Coppers and Joseph Taylor, and I got them quite a bit cheaper. It mostly cost a lot of time and patience.

But I wouldn't buy from this sale. To me auctions with reserve prices are fraud. A honest seller does not need to hide his intentions.

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 11:28 AM

oooooooOOOOOOOoooooo

Actually, as I understand it, Ian's daughter has to pay the uni fees and cannot, in the present circumstances, get vacation work. Being an eBay trader instead seems very enterprising to me.

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Will Fly
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 12:09 PM

The prices for LPs in mint condition are actually quite reasonable - believe it or not. I valued my collection of VGC Leader/Trailer/Topic albums several years ago, and some of them were in the £40-£45 brackets then. I must confess to a gleam in the eye when I saw the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra stuff there... might have a go at those.

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:56 PM

WOW! Too rich for my blood - sadly.

Good luck with it anyway
Blessings
Rhiannon

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 05:47 PM

Altercation deleted. If you'd like to re-post your messages in more civil language, go ahead - just leave out the personal stuff and stick to the facts.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: BB
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 07:33 AM

Joe, I appreciate your reasons for deleting some messages, but I can't really see what was wrong with Dick's original posting - the one that someone else took exception to.

Barbara

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Folknacious
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 07:52 PM

Can anybody explain why they would bid (currently, about 15 hours to go yet) £117 for an old vinyl copy of Folk Roots New Routes when you can buy it in much better quality on a new CD for under £12 on Amazon? I can sort of understand £50 for those long unavailable Nic Jones LPs that have never been on CD, but that one makes no sense to me at all!

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Folkiedave
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 06:33 PM

People collect all sorts of things at daft prices. Why on earth would anyone want to pay squiliions for a painting when you can have a perfectly decent photograph for next to nowt? :-)

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: GUEST,Graham Bradshaw
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 04:54 AM

Raising my head above the parapet very slightly, and only momentarily, before I get shot down....

The first 2 Nic Jones albums ARE available on CD, albeit on CDR. Of course, it involves doing business with CM - not to everyone's taste I believe.

In a conversation with Bulmer (admittedly a few years back) he indicated that he still had copies of the vinyl LPs, and they were available at 'normal prices' to anyone who wanted to purchase.

I've no idea if that is still the case, but maybe eBay prices are not the only way you can get this stuff!

Just a thought, and rapidly ducking back into my bunker!!!

Subject: RE: EBay folk rarities alert
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 05:28 AM

Can anybody explain why they would bid (currently, about 15 hours to go yet) £117 for an old vinyl copy of Folk Roots New Routes when you can buy it in much better quality on a new CD for under £12 on Amazon?

Well, that's what record collectors do - especially if the vinyl is in mint condition. CDs, of course, don't always give better quality - much depends on the re-mastering. Early CDs were very harsh and tinny compared with the warmth of vinyl recording. When the CD became fashionable and swept all before it, record companies rushed to produce them and the re-mastering, in many cases, was abominable. The Beatles albums were a case in point. The only serious re-mastering of the Beatles in the history of their CDs was the recent "Love" album by George Martin - and it shows.

Vinyl is still the recording medium of choice for many people - Neil Young, I believe, has vinyl and CD versions of his new albums for sale. I love vinyl, myself, and still pick up the odd album here and there.