Hi,
I'm new to this site but not new to collecting. I'm always ordering records online and make regular trips to my local record store. What I really love is when I stumble on some good finds. Like today, a co-worker was getting rid of some of his old records and i walked away with The Clash - London Calling, Elvis - All time greatest hits, Elton John - Captain fantastic and the brown dirt cowboy (with inserts), The Buddy Holly Story, Janis Joplin - Pearl, AC/DC - Dirty Deeds. All in very good condition. Anyone else have lucky finds like this? Share your story.
Yes, I have gotten lucky a few times, but those times today are becoming fewer and fewer since most people aren't letting go of their stuff as easily as they were before. And this was only a couple years back!
Anyway, my best and most favorite story of all was when I won an auction on Ebay, and practically won two records for the price of one! Well, I was bidding on a rare hard rock album from a band called BullAngus. Now, mind you, the first BullAngus "self titled" album goes at least for like $100.00 in a sealed state condition, and I ended up winning this for like under $20.00. So, after the auction ended, and it came time for me to pay the record, on a ballsy move, I decided to call the seller & ask them if by some chance he happened to have the second BullAngus album entitled: Free For All. He said he did, and so I asked him if he were to sell me that record outright, how much would he charge me? The seller said he would charge me just $5.00, the cost of shipping. I was like, are you sure man? He said yes, and that he just wanted to not only unload the album, but he also wanted to give it to someone that appreciated it. After doing some research on the second BullAngus album, Free For All, was when I found out that collectors were actually willing to plop down $200. for a sealed copy!
Was this a true Ebay score? Yes, and it came from somebody who wasn't in it for the money, the seller didn't need the profit, and was just trying to unload it. Apparently, the seller had purchased some items from an estate sale, and according to what the seller said, the individual that last had these records, amongst many other possessions in his house, prior to his passing away, had a surplus of a box still sealed of the BullAngus "self titled" album. And it also so turned out that the Bullangus "Free For All" album happened to be the one & only copy in this surplus, so this indeed did happen to be an almost non-existent happening where the sun must've been aligned properly with the moon that day......Who knows how things happen?
All I can say is the reason why this happens to be my best story is because this kind of thing just doesn't happen normally to most people, and it just shouldn't have happened to me either. Not to mention, the Ebay seller also knew the value of this stuff! Yes, so here I am today with sitting here on my bed thinking..........What gives and how in the hell did this happen? LOL
Yes, bargains can still happen... I recently won an E Bay auction for a copy of Frank Blacks 10" Headache, personally signed by Frank Black on the front cover for only $8.50 AUD and the record/sleeve are in really nice shape. Not a vintage old release, but for me (a HUUUUGE Frank Black/ Pixies fan) an awesome deal. The seller e-mailed me telling me I payed less for the signed copy than he did for the record brand new before it was signed. I have also won an auction on E Bay for a 1st press UK (1e/1e) The Rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars by David Bowie in tip top shape for about $60.00 AUD, these are still out there for a good price, but I have seen exact copies go recently for hundreds of dollars... I guess these are on the rise. Buy now or forever hold your peace.. Years ago at the Good Sammys I found old copies of The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset (Compilation on Summit Records Australia) and a J&B compilation (If I remember correctly)in probably E+ condition and paid about $2.00 each for them.. score!, at Dada records in Perth WA about 2008 I found a brand new copy of Geffen rarities vol 1 which had the original price sticker stating it had been put on the shelf in 1994 and was still only going for $15.00!! (this store has sooooo much vinyl it would be impossible for the owner to re price all his stuff when values rise) Also he had a pink Green Day Dookie for $15.00 Cha ching! and a bunch (boxes) of The Hard-Ons lp's (old new stock)going for original prices too...found a 4 lp readers digest set of The Rolling Stones the great years at a hock shop in shrink wrap and paid like $6.00.. Moral of the story, scour your old record stores, ebay, hock shops and op shops, sooner or later you will find a bargain.. and also remember what may be cheap and/or common today could be the next Beatles Rubber Soul mono tommorow, start investing for the future.
Okay, since nobody is chiming in, I have another story........
Try going into your favorite record shops dollar bin, only to discover a hard to find 60's psych piece in near mint condition? Well, this is what happened to me recently about a month or so ago........
I went into my local record shop here in town, and let me tell you, I honestly never go through the dollar bin, but for some reason that day I did, and boy am I glad I did! Out of digging through countless piles of typical thrift store crap, in the dollar bin, I found a copy of an album by The Id, "The Inner Sounds Of The Id", on RCA records from 1967. The album cover was a definite VG grade with a badly scuffed front, along with the typical seam & spine wear, and almost practically split. What was funny is just as I was ready to throw the record back into the dollar bin dungeon where I felt it belonged, I took the record out of the album jacket, only to find it was in NEAR MINT condition! I kid you not, Near mint! I paid a dollar that day for a record that would have normally gone for about roughly $35-$40.00 in this kind of condition, but this was only due to the album jacket being so trashed! This album in top near mint, or unplayed condition can easily run you close to under $80.00, if you are lucky to find one anymore in that condition! I took the record up to the store clerk to pay for it, and told them: do you have any idea what this is? The funny part is, they thought it was a throwaway folk album, and of course you couldn't help them for thinking this by judging the cover! Funny, right? Well, when I told him it was a psych piece and how much it was worth in the condition it was in, suffice to say, as you can imagine, the look I received from his face was a classic one, but I waited to say this only after I paid for the record! :-))
If interested, if you like early classic late 60's psychedelic garage rock, then this record is definitely worthy of checking. Two songs off of the album, Boil The Kettle Mother & The Rake have been featured on countless compilations, Pebbles being the biggest of them. Not everything works as an experiment on this record, but the album is definitely still worth the hunt if this is your bag......
The moral of this story is: Check your dollar bins, folks! You never know what you will find in there! I am glad I did that day!
The best part is that the vinyl on this particular record can be tough to find in excellent or near mint condition and I got lucky enough to find one where the vinyl looked great! Also, even if I found another copy where the vinyl was in bad shape, but the album cover was in excellent or VG++ condition, I would be happy and this album just more than paid for itself!
C'mon people, I know I must not be the only one here in this discussion with stories to tell, unless you are one of those secretive record collectors that like to hide in the midst!
I sell records...here and elsewhere. Before I got so backlogged, I used to buy collections. I didn't have time to open them for years. I just opened one and it appeared that whoever sold it to me bought Goodwill out of all their albums! BUT...I found two sealed Denny Ezbas, a sealed Joey Long, a sealed Frank Zappa and a near mint condition Bronco. These (and many more) have kept my cats in Fancy Feast.
Over the years..Sgt Peppers without "A day in the life"on the label..Grannie (twice),Mirkwood,1st and second Elvis LPs (loads of times).Sherry Darling/Independance Day (Springsteen Picture Sleeve),Stereotypes (UK Punk 45 Sold it for a grand),dozens of Vertigo Swirls/pink Islands,All the Nick Drakes,an unreleased Harvest album (Chris Spedding's fusion album),MINT Billy Fury Eps..Loads and loads more..All bought from charity shops or boot sales for less than a quid (less than a dollar)..But,I have been selling records since the mid seventies!..
Out of all the things you mentioned Tom, those Nick Drakes must've been a catch! I never see those that often in the state you are talking about! Most I have seen are most certainly trashed beyond belief!
@Betsi: Finding Joey Long & Denny Ezba at any given rate must have been some outright AMAZING finds! I mean, you just don't see those in that kind of condition anymore!
Just recently I have been going back & rediscovering some gems on the Blue Thumb records label. Some recent finds were the albums by the Butts Band, which were released in the mid 70's. Really cool stuff I might add. Kinda sorta like a funky jazz based rock, with touches of experimentation. Not to mention, I found out that two ex Doors members Robby Krieger & John Densmore were both in the band!
Anyone familiar with the Butts Band? If not, then those are ones to check out if you don't know about them already!
BTW, what in the heck happened to our OP named MC? Is he missing in action with us here, or is he just sitting there taking notes to expand his knowledge for a record collection? LOL :--))
I visited a musician 3 years ago who wanted to sell his collection of Jazz & Latin vinyl records.
He lives about 1,5 hour drive from my city in the bavarian countryside, pretty beautiful there.
Of course as always if I go for a collection I was in a dither about what is there for me to find,
I love this feeling. After arriving we had a nice talk, he was about 65-70 years and had played with all the german jazzman in the ´50 + ´60 and being from South America also playing some Latinmusic.
For some reason he turned to more commercial music later and played pop, Schlager and later was also managing folk music bands. Anyway the great moment came when he showed me his music cellar with his records and left me alone to go through his stuff. You can imagine how disapointed I was when I realised that most of his 4000 records where stuff from ´75 til end of the ´80, no early Jazz, Latin or Funk from the 50-70. I was already thinking about leaving when I came across "Vita Nova" the legendary same named german Krautrock band with there rare selfreleased debut album, only released 500 times. It shook me hard when I saw that there where 2 of this both unplayed in real mint condition. This record will sell for 1000,- Euro within a minute and he had 2!! Of course I was calculation if it makes sense to buy the collection but still he wanted to much for it. It got late and we went for a Restaurant to have dinner, talked a lot about his life and career and I tried to bargain him down to a price where it would make sense to buy the lot, but he refused my offers telling me he has someone else in the backhand etc..
After dinner we drove to his house and now it was up to me to make a step, of course I wanted those records. I just asked him if I can show him a record I found and if he can tell me about it, how he got it etc.. First he could not remember VIta Nova but when he read the musicians he remembered that they where friends back in 1970 and he got 3 records of those 500 for him to keep. One he lost, 2 where still there and I just asked him if he would sell it to me. To my surprise he just said "Take them for free, so you did not came in vain" I was exploding inside, thanked him a lot and jumped into my car freaking out inside. 2 records worth 1000,- Euro each for free, impossible.
I later sold one for 950,- within 3 days after I added it to my website, the 2nd I still keep.
Funny story and it was already the 2nd time I came across this rare record, about 10 years earlier I found another mint copy in a producers home here in Munich and was able to buy it for 50 cent....
Sometimes you just need a bit of luck
a week ago I went to an estate sale and got a box of 45's ( about 90 in all ) plus a vintage metal 45 rack for $7.00 .At that price I thought I'd take a gamble, without weeding through the box first, and that gamble paid off. In going through the discs I came across one I was familiar with it was Coral record 9-62017 Real Wild Child / Oh You Beautiful Doll by Ivan. Being a huge Buddy Holly fan I knew the vocals on this record were by the Crickets drummer Jerry Allison with Buddy playing guitar. It plays great and would probably be rated at VG + or higher . $7.00 well spent I'd say.
I purchase accept's first single from germany in a little record store in Tyler Tx.it had the pic sleeve and was in VG++ condition looked unplayed.I paid 1.00 for it.went and sold it on ebay for 315.00.now thats what I call a profit.
Bought only on Sunday for £6 mint copy of Genesis Nursery Cryme signed by both Steve Hackett and Phil Collins.!! 4 hours earlier at the same place for £3 i picked up a gold/black mono pressing of please please me reasonably well played but still a great find .There are really rare records everywhere if you look hard enough and get lucky enough to get them at a great price !!
Originally Posted By William Wren: I purchase accept's first single from germany in a little record store in Tyler Tx.it had the pic sleeve and was in VG++ condition looked unplayed.I paid 1.00 for it.went and sold it on ebay for 315.00.now thats what I call a profit.
wow William thats a great find..
me i picked up seals & crofts greatest hits in very good shape
for 25 cents.. now thats a bargin!!
A nice minty fresh copy of Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau still in shrink for a buck at a local college record store that usually stocks horrible club rap and "grandparent" type show tunes.
Also, a copy of Dunn Pearson Jr. - Groove On Down 12" at a Goodwill in the very back of a crate for a buck.
Flipped both very quickly thereafter for a nice price!
Hmm, I am just curious.......Was this thread initially supposed to be about great finds that buyers have recently added to their record collections, or is this about what great finds sellers have found so that they can make a turnover in profit? Just curious?
According to the OP, this I thought was supposed to be about great stories/experiences we have had as buyers of items recently added to our record collections?
Just won an e-bay bid for 3 Sex Pistols records including Never Mind the Bollocks 1st press 1 of 1000 A2/B2 matrix (in E condition) for about 30.00 AUD.. That is a great price, even if I dont include the other 2 so called pistols albums (Great R&R Swindle and some live boot circa Matlock era). It's suprising what you can find and score at bargain basement prices, do your homework, it's all I can say... Oh and if there are no details on ebay for an album you are looking for, always ask the seller, they may not post your Q and A to their ad and it might just turn out to be that little gem you have always been searching for.
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