Frankie Crocker

Hi Tim. I’ve fallen a bit behind then. I’ll check them out on Amazon later, thanks. By coincidence, I just ordered a book from Amazon 10 minutes ago after steering clear of them for two years after they charged me for Prime which I did not want.

I have three editions. They came out over a short period of time. I’ve never compared them against each other, side by side: they differ in various ways though. Every now and again, I thumb through one or another just to jog the memory or add a title to the ‘wants list’. They are really fine books, nicely presented with good graphics. I look forward to the forthcoming edition in the hope it features some of the latest discoveries that have received dance floor acclaim up and down the country, not just in the North.

Good news Kev. A welcome addition. Can you please put Frank Wilson at number 500, right at the back in small print, thanks?

It’s all a blurr looking back 44 years, but the sounds were pretty good with 60’s newies and 70’s crossover popping up all over the place. Has anyone got scans of Blues and Soul adverts to remind us?

Can anyone confirm how many copies of Marvin Gaye were pressed? I read 200 somewhere but not sure. I thought all copies were in a picture sleeve but I guess some may have been discarded by DJ’s filing in white card sleeves. Cliff Nobles is a tough record to find these days and is a great sound too. You won’t find too many in soul packs today, or thrown off the stage at Allnighter anniversaries...

Four Perfections has crept past £600 and £700 in recent years. Cliff Nobles is a more recent spin, probably overlooked in the 70’s due to the artist being well known on a common label.

Usual thanks for posting. Four Perfections sold for a tidy sum - a top-drawer classic, and worth every penny. Thought Marvin would go for a higher amount...

The coloured stars relate to the seller’s rating. This reflects their level of eBay activity and can be analysed to check on the number of transactions and withdrawn bids. The star rating gives an idea of what sort of competition you are up against so it can be used to shape a bidding strategy. The numbers and letters with dashes in between mask the bidder’s ID but they can change making it trickier to monitor the winning bidder.

You were wise to decline the fake offers. The Second Chance offer is a scam as the price is determined by the high fake value rather than the lower third bidder’s figure. On the subject of the record under discussion, the bids are clearly suspicious so I would advise not getting involved. Look at other records the seller has for sale - there are only a couple bid on and one has a Private Bidder. If there were several good records up for auction, you would probably see Private Bidders shilling on all of them.

Private Bidders are bad news. I drop out of the running when they appear. I avoid bidding when they are the first to bid. When you think about it, what is the Private Bidder actually trying to conceal? They are an aberration on what should otherwise be an openly acceptable system. The masked ID’s used by eBay should be enough to hide bidders’ details so why allow Private Bidders? The Private Bidder is the fly in the ointment, the person best placed to rig the auction and push prices up without any intention of buying. eBay’s allowance of Private Bidders taints the system and promotes criticism - the very fact that we are discussing the topic tells you there is something very wrong with Private Bidders...

Trends goes for a tidy sum putting it beyond the reach of most collectors. Great sound, the group’s best by far and massively in-demand. The rest of the auction was slightly underwhelming though the Velvelettes made me blink twice.

Yes Steve. Several times. I’ve been waiting to pounce. One of my earliest favourites, right out of my price range in 1974. I have two variants but there’s always room for another one...

When the early Price Guides appeared, some record dealers were motivated to dig deeper into their basements and attics unearthing nice stock - that was a short, but sweet period. Later Price Guides contributed to price inflation but some US dealers stuck with early editions so buyers had bargains. Nowadays, Popsike and Collectorsfrenzy mean there are no bargains, but savvy dealers stockpile the rarer stuff - these are the stores to visit and revisit, trip after trip. It’s always worth taking a Price Guide such as Manship #5 or 6, so if you find a record that’s not in the book, it could be worth keeping hold of.

Hi James. You have missed the boat on this. The days of returning from the States with hundreds of records are long gone. Sure, there are common records going cheaply, often in unplayed condition, but you can buy those from UK dealers. Much depends on where you go, and the the record stores there. Most have been picked over so regularly, there is little to be had, but you can always hold out for that one item crate-diggers have overlooked. In 1996, I brought back over 500 records from Detroit, Chicago and places around - I carried 200, put 200 in the suitcase when it was a 70lb luggage allowance and the Mrs put a few boxes in her hand luggage. The weight alone makes it a difficult proposition. When the volcano went off in 2010, I was stuck in Texas for an extra week after touring around for a fortnight - that was a great delay as it bumped the haul up to over 300 records, a large proportion of which were duplicates to sell on - it takes a lot of time to find large numbers of records. These days, you are lucky to find 50-100 good records in a fortnight visiting ten stores in five cities. You could achieve similar on eBay and UK websites in a month, but it would only be a fraction of the fun. Top tips for travellers would be to visit any newly opened stores ASAP, chat to the store owners and discover the local contacts, jump at the chance to go to a collector’s house if invited, carry 100 old sleeves marked at 50 cents that look like they came from a yard sale or antique mall and walk through the Green Channel like you have nothing to declare. Be prepared to find little or nothing, but have a great holiday, clock up some miles, see the sights and any records found are a bonus.

Manship Guides, hands down. The prices are now academic but give a relative indication of record scarcity and demand. Manship 5 is good to travel with as it has info on bootlegs. Manship 6 is a bit thinner, on heavier paper but nice to have at arm’s reach for quick reference. Manship 7 is a thumping great hardback tome, fully expanded to include LP’s and with an interesting set of collectors’ contributions at the end. I have only bought the one Essential Guide but it contained some records that did not feature in the Manship series. I have a full set of Manship's books and strongly recommend them for identifying records regardless of prices.

Ah, but some of John’s records are flops, others go for the book price or market rate, whilst a few, the ones we are speculating on, go for stupidly high prices. Yes, these do contribute to rampant price inflation but remember, John's auctions have more of a global reach and way more bidders. Tim Brown’s auctions have high minimum bids so they can fetch high prices if anyone starts bidding in the first place. His copy of Sherri Taylor is at a higher price than John’s went for this week. John’s auctions are the fairest and best around despite the emergence if rogue values that we like to pontificate on. As you say, the person with the most money trumps all comers...

But with sealed bid auctions, price inflation is rampant. It endorses the one big bid only approach, but pay a stupidly high amount. Incremental bidding encourages more measured bids and potentially less expensive records. Sealed bid auctions are for very rich bidders. Incremental bid auctions are for the masses who can not afford to pay through the nose.

Ah but, the winner of John’s auction pays a small increment more than the second bidder. The winner of Pat’s auction may pay £2,500 more than the underbidder - now that’s great for the seller but unfortunate for the buyer.

But the record’s wanted in more than three States... This is what happens in a sealed bid auction. Prices do not rise incrementally so the winner is the person with most money in the bank. John Manship’s auction method is by far and away the best.

The buyer must’ve been ‘In The Mood’...😂😂😂

Especially when the issue goes for £100-125...

But given recent price surges on massive tunes, I wonder if it could have? To what extent was the buyer smitten by the LP - were they just after the single? I also wonder if the records might have made more money had they had been auctioned separately QED.

Isonics - finished at £543 Esther Phillips -WOW Silhouettes - the 45 might have fetched this price on its own perhaps?

In the words of the mighty Jack Johnson, ‘Reduce-Reuse-Recycle...’ I am pleased to offer space for the recycling skip outside my mansion. Reuse all maroon Doo-Wop records for ash trays or Christmas nut dishes etc. Reduce your future need for vinyl by buying everything you can get your hands on, while you can...got a nice pair of Willie Picketts on Eastern and Soul Spot today.

Manship auctioned a copy of Tears a few weeks ago for well over £500. I can’t remember the exact figure but it was nearer £800. Nobody in their right mind would ever put this record in a skip.