Page 57 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2018

and it means that your Hank Ballard album must look like it
just come off the rack at Record City. eBay is the first place
most folks look. To find out how much your record is selling
for, do the following:

1. Type name of the album and add LP to search term (for
example, East-West Paul Butterfield LP) In this case,
there are eight listings. The price ranges from a super
rare Japanese promo version for $399 to several for
around $14.
2. Go to the upper right-hand corner and tap the “Filter” icon.
This will pull up a “Sort By” menu. Go down and click “Sold
Items.” Sellers can ask whatever they want, but this is the
current market value. Once again, you may see several
prices. Notice that the differences depend on the label and
whether or not it’s in mono or stereo. If you have a nice copy
of a U.S. pressing, it’s probably worth around $15.

Along with eBay, you can check out collectorsfrenzy.com
and popsike.com to get an idea of the going price.

“What do collectors look for?” Skully Owens, also known as "Uncle Pop," spends a lot of time building his vinyl collection.
Don’t expect that just because an album is old, it will bring Photo by Claire Henderson
big bucks. Opera, classical, big band and pop singers are
rarely worth much. The good news is that blues is one of the “So, what do I do with it?”
more sought-after genres. So now that you are thanking me for saving that Sonny
Boy Williamson album you were getting ready to yard sale,
Blues 78s: If, by some miracle, you stumble across a blues here are your options:
78rpm vinyl record in VG or better, it’s worth something. How
much depends again on the artist and its condition. Most bring Sell it online: Expect to get burned, especially if you are
$10-$20. Not to get your hopes up, but if you find an original new to the game, but with a little practice, you’ll catch on.
Tommy Johnson, Willie Brown or (good luck) Robert Johnson, Take it to the local used record store: Don’t expect
you are looking at serious money. To get that kind of money, you more than 25% of the value of a collectible record, be
will need to deal with 78 collectors, the lifeguards of the Anal prepared to get a bulk price for the rest.
Retention Pond. For a great book on the strange world of these Donate to your local library: A great gesture and a nice
collectors, read Do Not Sell At Any Price by Amanda Petrusich. tax write off. You can write off 100% of the listed value per
Blues 45s: They are hard to find, but highly collectible. record!
Look for VG or better copies, and keep an eye out for any Save them for the grandkids: One of the most enduring
listed as “promotional.” These often bring a higher price. legacies of our generation is the music we brought to the world.
Blues LPs: Blues LPs didn’t really come on the scene till the If you’re reading this at a festival, you are enjoying part of
early ‘60s. Labels like Chess realized that white kids with that legacy now. Stash those records in a safe and dry place,
stereos were buying blues records, and so they packed several and some day, along with your stories about Watergate and
greatest hits collections. Many of these contain fabulous music Woodstock, you can turn the grandkids on to Muddy Waters.
and are very collectible. Even later collections from the ‘70s
and ‘80s have value. Now how cool is that?
Most of the great blues were recorded on little privately
owned labels. It’s the American diversity story at its best. Small Reverend Billy lives in Ocala, FL, with his girlfriend Linda,
labels owned mostly by Eastern European Jews on the run from eight cats and one horse. He tours, has a radio show and sells
Joe and Adolph were recording the music of Southern Blacks collectible records. Find him on Facebook at William Wirths,
and changing Western culture. The following labels are a few online at revbillycwirtz.com, or contact directly:
of the places where you find music that’s both collectible and revbilly88@aol.com. For questions about records, email the
well worth listening to: King, Sun, Chess, Checker, Specialty, Rev or check out his online records stores:
Duke, Peacock, Imperial, RPM, Modern, Aladdin, Goldband, Discogs.com/user/planetrevrecords and
Blue Note (mainly jazz but very valuable) and Alligator. stores.ebay.com/planetrevrecords

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