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Hello, I came across a classical music record collection and have gathered the following information via email from the owner. I have not looked at the collection yet, but before I drive all the way there to see it, I am interested in your thoughts as to how much in a very rough sense I should pay for this collection based on the description below.
Well over 1,000 records, selling as a whole lot
Records are in beautiful condition
Not much opera in it
All are good brand name or audiophile labels; no budget labels like Turnabout, CBS Odyssey, Nonesuch, Angel, Longines, Vox, RCA Gold, Seraphin, Musical Heritage Society etc.
Some sample labels are: Over 100 Philips Digital Classics, RCA Living Stereo same, Columbia 6 Eyes and 2 Eyes over 300, also have Telarc, London blueback, Mercury Living Presence etc. and audiophile records
Follow Ups:
Just a quick update on this: after much negotiation, the seller agreed to let me pick what I wanted. I went through his collection (easily a couple of thousands) and chose 189 records for $400. Here is a breakdown:
RCA LSC shaded dog: 53 (many Reiner, also Leibowitz The Power of the Orchestra)
Telarc: 34
Mercury Living Presence: 25
London Blue Back: 12 (some Ansermet, also Ricci playing Sibelius Violin)
Argo: 4
Decca narrow band: 3
Phillips: 29 (mostly violin by Grumiaux, Szeryng, Accardo)
Misc 29: some highlights in this group are Michael Rabin The Magic Bow, Walter 6-Eye Beethoven 6, Gunter Wand on Harmonia Mundi
I am sure there are still some good stuff but I did not have time to thoroughly dig through. There are also about 50 Japanese pressings on the shelf but he did not let me look at because those belong to his ex wife and were not for sale. Oh, by the way, his deliciously looking turntable setup is worth $22,000, and he asked me whether I would be interested in for $9,500, but that was way beyond what I could afford.
What a gentleman!
What is an 'audiophile' record?
Is this a recent record that retails for $30-$50?
Even though, are any worth really listening to??
nt
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
My experience is record collections (or what are left of them) are all junk.
The actually good stuff is long gone, and what is left are the ones no one else wanted.
So I think you may be disappointed.
And yes the owners gushed over them like a prized wonder...
So take your time, look at them well.. Inspect them if you can.
And yes a buck a pop is a good price for an average collection
(But I bet you walk away shaking your head.. Either he wants crazy high prices, or the stuff is worthless, or both.)
I am sorry to be so pessimistic, but my experience says a pig in a poke is usually just a rabid raccoon. Now if a lot of folks would write here how they do find wonderful collections every day at great prices..
I am still waiting for the garage sale with thousands of early Jazz titles in near mint condition at five for a dollar...
Some parts of the country are better than others, as are some parts of the continent. I follow a couple of vinyl people on YouTube who live in Canada and am shocked at the stuff they're regularly buying in thrift stores. It's like 1999 up there.
I don't actively look for record collections but I've had two nice ones fall into my lap. A friend who is always looking has found so much extraordinarily high-grade and collectible stuff that I actually sometimes hate him.
But he's the one doing the hard work of looking, not me, and it is hard, time-consuming work.
The price of classical records seems to have gone up quite a bit in recent years. I purchased 10,000 classical and jazz records for $3,000 back in ~2004. Since then I have paid anywhere from $.50 per record to $10 per record, but mostly I pay about $1. However, let me comment on your list:
"no budget labels like Turnabout, CBS Odyssey, Nonesuch, Angel, Longines, Vox, RCA Gold, Seraphin, Musical Heritage Society"
I disagree about many of these. I have some wonderful sounding recordings with excellent performances on all of these labels except Longines (that I don't believe I have ever seen).
"Some sample labels are: Over 100 Philips Digital Classics, RCA Living Stereo same, Columbia 6 Eyes and 2 Eyes over 300, also have Telarc, London blueback, Mercury Living Presence etc. and audiophile records"
Much as I like Philips, I NEVER buy digital LPs. All of the digital LPs I received with the 10,000 record collection have been put on my reject shelf. Just not worth listening to. Of course the Telarcs fall into this category as well.
I would offer somewhere between 400 and 800 for this collection, depending on how many titles I already have.
Hope this helps!
Jim
They just are not worth owning in the end. I have plenty of London digital records and they are not equal to good analogue recordings at all even at their best. London digital are flat and dead sounding to me. "Turnabout, CBS Odyssey, Nonesuch, Angel, Vox, RCA Gold, Seraphin, Musical Heritage Society" are in my experience never worth owning, they are a waste of space and sifting through hundreds of them to find (by listening. YUCK!) the few good ones is too painful to be tolerated and yes i have done this before.
Richard
The times I've bought collections have been like pulling teeth to get sellers to state an asking price. All I ever hear is "I dunno what they're worth, make me an offer."
Assuming the description is accurate and condition mostly NM, I think Jim E's suggestion of $400 to $800 as an offer is about right. You can't really know until you go look at the records. Good luck!
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