Frankie Crocker

Alarm bells now ringing. I smell a rat. Apologies to anyone I might have mislead earlier. The seller could explain the provenance to help clarify matters. Another thing puzzling me is how can a 10 inch disc play at 45 rpm when a 7 inch record would (in contrast to a 12 inch playing at 33.3 rpm)?

Hi Keith. If you’ve not yet decided on a cover photograph yet, could I suggest you opt for a collage of membership cards, patches and record labels. I do not think a single cover photograph would do justice to your project - a range of photos would certainly enhance the contents, but many of the high quality ones out there have been used in earlier publications. Is the publication date known yet? Looking forward to seeing the book on sale.

Very noble of you. You would have been justified had you paid a large sum for it in the first place. A commission sale should ideally return the original outlay but the risk at auction is you can actually lose out.

I’ve only got the yellow demo...has anyone got a black felt pen I can borrow to colour it in? A mate of mine had the orange release of the Detroit Executives on Pameline so he coloured it with a green felt pen for a joke...well he’s not laughing now as it’s selling for £100

Doni Burdick and Soul Communicators achieved four-figure status having crept up and up, year after year. Not seen the Patti Austin release on a black issue very often. These are all top-drawer sounds and essential records for serious collectors. David Gage went for a much lower price than Manship’s Priceguide figure. Virtually unknown records like this suffer from lack of exposure and therefore limited demand. I suspect this was the copy offered on Soul Source but nobody took the plunge. Had I been the owner of this rarity, I would have kept hold of it. I was surprised it was not withdrawn from the auction given the minimal interest shown.

The whole haul has an eclectic look about it. The range of acetates suggests an interesting variety of sources. There are Emidiscs present that might set alarms ringing. The two disks in question look like studio test presses and at 8 inches diameter, not a 70’s knock-off. Someone has paid a hefty sum for the Washpan disk so were convinced it had potential value.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ve just checked the red labels on Popsike and they indicate Jet Set as the B side. In Manship #6, both demos and issues have the same B side, Jet Set. There was some controversy about the B side as I can remember taping it for someone to clear up a problem. Pleased to see that it has appreciated in value so £275-£325 appears to be the current price range for a mint copy.

They both look totally legit. Sadly, the pair look like they are delaminating on the run-ins with the lacquer missing. The turntable looks a bit naff so the stylus may be worn? That said, to auction a disc like this in the hope it will fetch good money, the seller should attempt to explain the three skips; are there noticeable nicks or gouges causing the problems? If the lacquer is actually missing where the disc skips, this should be made abundantly clear. Some skips can be fixed easily so if there is scope for this, it could be indicated. This could be a bargain-buy, especially if the disc is OK and the turntable is at fault, but who would be willing to spend big to find out?

Sam Dees went for a tidy sum. Turley Richards continues to creep upwards in price as demand is insatiable. Loads of Barbara Lynn around at present but this one broke the £200 barrier. No records snapped up for re-sale as far as I can work out...

Yes, it’s the rare northern soul and reissues site. It is a big deal when you are underbidder on a record that re-appears a month later and the price has jumped £100 or 33%. It becomes more of a big deal when US dealers start emulating the prices of the UK mark-up merchants. I don’t see John Manship, Tim Brown, Pat Brady, etc bidding on auction items for resale. Most major dealers acquire their stock in a variety of other ways. Regular collectors are the bottom-feeders, picking up cheapies to sell on, higher value records for trades or upgrades, and occasionally a big ticket item to hang on to. Perhaps I’m talking through my pocket here, but the bulk of record collectors resent being asked to pay exorbitant prices and dislike the inflationary forces at work.

Ah, but none will sell at the prices quoted, and certainly not with label vinyl damage. I can’t see too many collectors wanting to negotiate cash-trades deals either as the prices are way too high and therefore totally unrealistic.

Right on. I saw the advert. I don’t recall it being auctioned in the first place so it possibly isn’t a re-sale item, who knows? As a minter though, it could be perfect for copying and pressing on a private label. I would be extremely interested know the names of the six lucky owners of this record in the white DJ format. Ward Burton hung around for a week or so before being sold - a few of these have sold on eBay auctions this year.

Very true. But probably not even a thousand pounds worth, especially with writing on the label. I also thought L. Allen was the first issue then Larry Allen came next; there was a thread on this record a year or two ago.

That’s fairly common I would have thought with collector-dealers grabbing bargains to sell on to fund their hobby. Of more concern is the major dealer ‘intercepting’ eBay auction items, purely for resale. One dealer currently has a Larry Allen, Clifford Binns and Billy Arnell for re-sale at inflated prices. I reserve comment on this leaving readers to draw their own conclusions...

Darren Brown has just put a copy up for sale at £325. Evidently a bit of a buzz on this one right now.

Not sure about this but probably three figures nowadays. Not seen one for sale for a while. Caution advised when buying as the lookalike boot has a different B side to the original. Manship auctioned a white demo of it a couple of months ago - went for £500+.

I lust over the sound of Calvin. If I were to ever hold a copy, my hands would tremble too much to read the matrix...

Hi Kathryn. The price of this great record is tricky to ascertain. Coming up to Christmas, collectors may be reluctant to part with the cash. Much depends on what the buyer paid for it and what sort of profit they want to make - only the owner is aware of those crucial pieces of information. The mint descriptor makes it more appealing to the discerning collector, but if it has been used to DJ with, it might be less desirable. UK collectors prefer records from the US that have had little or no play. The data on Popsike will help you to quantify the highest amount you could achieve but thus will need to be reduced for a quick sale.

The seller’s comment about it being a secind pressing appears to be based on Manship’s description in Priceguide #5. Popsike reveals plenty of sales, mostly without the title in the run-out suggesting this version could actually be a subsequent pressing. The labels of both so-called first and second pressings are identical so I would suggest they were pressed roundabout the same time. Not being an expert on the pressing of LA vinyl, I think the question we should be posing is, did all the copies of this record come of a single pressing machine but with different stampers, or were copies being churned out on two presses simultaneously in the same plant?

Condition, condition, condition... We have entered a new era. There are now millionaires bidding for these trophies, so objective values become totally irrelevant. If the record is mint enough to be reproduced, the owner possesses a commercial asset to make ‘legal’ reissues for financial gain. Keep an eye out for a lookalike release of Dean Parrish on the Scam label soon to be be available for £29.99.

Common as muck... Can buy it any and every month on eBay.

Dean Parrish - WOWEE! Jerry Williams - gobsmacked. Generation - baffled. Set Sale items went for book-prices, give-or-take. Still the best auction on the planet by far - other auctioneers can only look on with envy. Here’s wishing John and his staff a merry lock-in💰🥳💃🕺

It won’t sell for £1,500. That said, it is hugely in-demand so you will be lucky to find a copy for less than $1,000. In any case, I very much doubt a UK seller would part with it for a quick-sale price now it has been advertised at a totally unrealistic sum.

Agreed but probably fake Hollister or Superdry rather than Fred Perry. There are some situations when buying a fake Billy Arnell would be acceptable. A reputable dealer may choose to gather all bootlegs for reference. Youngsters in Outer Mongolia might fancy a cheap version for their DJ box knowing full well they will never own an original copy. Someone owning an original may choose to spin it in the record room as it is closer to hand than the locked away version. I could see some wag buying a copy for a wife/girlfriend for a laugh. Yes, there is a market for these forgeries but surely they do not need to be facsimiles designed to deceive. It’s reached the point where UK sellers on eBay are not worth considering - too many of them just add a vague word about the record’s age or admit to knowing nothing whatsoever about it to mislead buyers.