Frankie Crocker

Soul records will be the last into the skip, and the rarest will be safely stashed away. The shortage of decent contemporary releases for the masses will encourage the more discerning youngsters to embrace vinyl. Turntables, LP’s and 60’s/70’s pop are already attracting converts - good soul 45’s will always be favoured by those seeking out the best sounds. The skip will fill up with Doo-Wop, Country, surplus chart singles that sold by the million, 80’s and 90’s picture sleeves of little interest, CD collections, just about everything apart from rare soul. Sadly, tons of Motown, Atlantic and Stax will end up in the skip as there are not enough buyers for it all. Rare soul records could last for hundreds of years if cared for properly and played on high quality turntables.

Eleven copies on Popsike - one sold in December 2020 for $30!!! A member on Soul Source was asking for one a short while back - I hope they got that one...

So, which side did the bidders on Samuella Williams go for? Younghearts fetched more than expected for a common classic. Otis Lee went for the going rate or thereabouts. Kenny Wells went for less than expected but you can’t win them all.

If Dave Flynn moved back to the UK, there would be more killer collections in Australia I reckon.

Ah, but it’s not just about the prices. Some of the final values are ludicrous for the discs in question as they are not scarce and/or lacking in quality. Many of the items are simply not auction items. Just lately, some of the records have not been in ‘tip-top’ condition - more than a few have sold for less than top dollar. Some of the records, presumably sold on commission, will have realised less than the owner was hoping for. Some of John’s hype exaggerates the merits of records up for grabs but is always worth reading. Each stupidly sky-high price distorts the market and encourages greedy sellers to up their prices. John’s weekly auction is still way more interesting than others around - that’s what prompts discussion.

Very sad news. So glad I caught her act in the USA summer of 2019. Excellent tribute to her by music journalist Neil McCormick in today’s Daily Telegraph (10/2/21). Her contribution to music will live on forever.

The rule is an ‘ass’ then... I bet eBay rubbed their hands together... The goods are a physical entity so can be assigned a value. The postal service is an ‘invisible’ of no value once the transfer has taken place. VAT was always a misnamed tax when it was introduced to replace Sales Tax then upped following the Poll Tax Riots; it was not reduced when Council Tax replaced the Rates Tax.

Just another Set Sale😴😴😴 Jack Montgomery, Bobby Garrett and a couple of others not really auction items.

Very sad news. I enjoyed his posts on Soul-Source. Evidently one of life’s characters and a man of the people who spoke his mind.

Valid observation Clive. Has anyone else noticed how eBay are now flying planes from hubs in the US into Germany and Switzerland. UK customers will pay overseas shipping rates expecting the US Postal Service to take care of the mail. US packets go to the hub for a local postage rate, then eBay fly the mail across the Atlantic, no doubt making further profits. No wonder eBay are so keen to charge 20% on postage as well as VAT as it’s more money for them. As Clive has pointed out, the relabelling process at the hub involves a different value being put on the ticket, something UK importers might want to think about carefully. All this seems to be independent of the Global Shipping Programme which is another rip-off in itself, and no doubt a failure of sorts that has prompted eBay to implement the the innovation currently under discussion.

Royal Mail have been charging this fee for years, so it’s not just a recent thing. Now the Post Office has been privatised, they have become another bunch of rip-off scammers. The organisation is now run by bonus-boys who move from firm to firm getting golden handcuffs and handshakes. Ask yourselves, why does the price of a stamp go up so frequently? Want to know why there are so few post offices? Sell them off so the balance sheet looks healthy, and hey presto, up goes the bonus...

Earl Jackson - £1,342 Charlie McCoy - £446 Theron and Darrell - £1,428 Earl Jackson has broken the sound barrier...now I’ll never own a copy😢. Charlie McCoy has his day in the sun. Thought the Gallahads would go for more as it’s seriously rare. No worries mate. You do a brilliant job.

About as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to pricing. The range of prices thrown up over a long period of time can confuse both sellers and buyers. Useful for estimating the scarcity of a particular record or the ratio of demos:issues. Interesting to analyse the bidding history to track major finds, heightened demand etc. Totally misleading to sellers who think they will achieve maximum prices for their records. Of some use in suggesting what to bid to win an auction. Like price-guide books, Popsike is of interest to us collectors but must be used with an open mind.

Herman lived and recorded in Cincinnati. He was still living there recently so I was able to become the proud owner of one of his Stone Blue issues via a third party. This was after Andy had met him. I had the chance to buy one of Herman’s Mercury copies but I passed on it, something I’ve had cause to regret. Herman was selling part of his record collection so I was lucky enough to acquire his blue issue of Connie Austin on King.

Did they shrink wrap LP’s in the 60’s? The first cling film I saw on LP’s was in the late 70’s or early 80’s. Chalkie’s point about the lack of a promotional sticker is worth noting, but self-adhesive stickers were not common in the 60’s, it was all lick-‘n-stick hence so many ruined record labels. Goodway was probably a small outfit that used a small number of one-stop-shops to sell, so maybe the LP’s were stuffed by someone in a back room and the promotion done by word of mouth.

Good questions Dobber. Now there is copy on John Manship’s auction, others may be posing similar questions. For example, was there a free 45 in every LP sold? The free single may have been a marketing ploy to encourage buyers of the LP to give the 45 to a friend to prompt them to buy the album. Mass producing 45’s was an expensive business so I don’t see there being a few hundred sitting around unwanted when there was an album planned for release.

Not sure sorry. I have not seen a bootleg. I have two copies of the record in question but with different B sides. I had a rough copy, then upgraded it a couple of years ago when a stash turned up; I then decided to keep both of them. It looks like there were two pressings of the record, possibly because one was messed up. I can’t lay my hands on the records right now to check the details but I would be surprised if someone had booted it.

True, but a box turned up. Dealers took a few to sell on. Now that hoard has dried up, try finding a nice copy.

Big spin by Butch in the late 90’s. I’ll be settling for the black-print second issue from now on though. Made its mark at the Casino too.

Agreed Steve. Possibly the dullest auction list I’ve seen in a while. I hope Tim Brown did not see it. At least there were a couple of proper highlights in Rufus Wood and Roy Robert.

Bidding war here. Record has featured in Wants Lists on Soul Source. Tug of war between US Tijuano soul and Northern collectors here. I thought about going for the copy last year but it was too pricey for the sales box. I reckon the Sheltons on Lance is staying in the USA.

The days of NM and M- are over. Jason grades conservatively, but the stock is not what it used to be like in the beginning. Even G records are worth having if dead rare and can be cleaned up; better to have a rough copy than no copy at all says he pondering whetherWayne Champion on Invictus was a bargain?

The new VAT imposition looks like a post-Brexit wheeze as eBay can no longer slush their funds offshore to Luxembourg. It looks like HMRC have done a deal with eBay which will suit both parties as the former will gain more tax and the latter can continue to avoid paying a higher level of corporation tax. I suspect that Customs duties will still be charged in the usual way until I hear to the contrary - I for one am not experimenting with this for the time being. As suggested on Soul-Source in a previous thread, buyers and sellers should unilaterally agree a low price eg 75cents, for every dirty, scratched, unwanted and uncared for 60’s soul record that crosses the Atlantic; ‘finders’ fees’ could be deducted from final auction prices resulting in low ticket declarations and zero Customs duty.🤫

Apologies...it should be Sir Richard anyway, and maybe it will be one day if he keeps playing his Ron Holden records.

A nice selection of tracks including The Prophets, Jackie Wilson, Betty Swann and N F Porter. Richard shared his expertise of the Northern scene between tracks, coming across well as he always does. However, on the subject of the Casino, Dickie OBE skirted around the R topic, failing to mention him, and ignoring the invitation he took up to form the best Northern Soul partnership I can recall. Richard, I call upon you to give credit where it is due and move on...