I'm assuming you know nothing about 78s as a collectable,
but you have obtained or inherited an accumulation, or are dealing with
a relative’s estate. I hope this will help in determining
a likely value, and maybe the best means of disposal.
The true value of these old records is ably demonstrated by observation
at your local household estate auction house. Often a box or two of
78s will be sold. Generally these will hold around 100 records, and they’ll
go for between NZ$10 and $30. I’ve seen larger boxes of 200-odd go for
$5 and smaller lots of 30 records go for more; but in general, count the
discs and start at 10cents each.
Of course, those buying aren’t generally interested in getting
100 78s for 10cents each. They’re after the few better items they’ve
noted, for which they are effectively willing to pay a few bucks each,
the other 95 records are just rubbish to be somehow disposed of. I was
at one such sale where a collector obtained a carton with some 150 records
for the princely sum of $10. After the auction, while successful buyers
were carting away their goodies, he riffled through the box, took out
the one record he actually wanted (and was happy to pay $10 for, plus
the buyer’s commission) then told me that I could take the rest away for
nothing, else he'd leave it for the auction house to put in their skip.
Another really good local option is to browse the completed auctions
on TradeMe (Music & Instruments,
Expired Listings - I use 78* as my search term). Here you can see what
people have actually been willing to pay for 78s in
To start, consider what makes an individual record worth something
in the first place. This is either the artist (and sometimes just some
titles), or the label.
A quick overview of Artists
& styles
In general, if you’ve heard of the artist, the record is probably
worthless. This may seem counterintuitive but consider this. If, 50
or more years on, you know the artist, chances are they were popular and
famous enough to have sold very large numbers in their time, making their
records still common today. Unless for some special reason, the artist
themselves remains collectable today, their time (and audience) has gone
and so has their value.
Collectable exceptions in the artist category are Elvis Presley,
Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny
Cash, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker – in fact most famous
Rock & Roll, R&B or Blues artists. The first four in this list
are found reasonably frequently in NZ, the rest much less so. A shiny condition NZ-pressed Elvis record could be worth
up to $50 but with the very scarce original picture sleeve is worth real
money – possibly over $500.
Many other artists are both famous and frequently found, but
have no residual value. These include Frank Sinatra, the Ink Spots,
The Platters, Harry Belafonte, Debbie Reynolds, Mitch Miller, Vera Lynn,
Bing Crosby (sorry, but it's true), The Andrews Sisters, Ken Griffiths,
Perry Como, most later period Louis Armstrong, Les Paul and so on.
Dance bands can be collectable but most aren’t, like Xavier Cugat,
Harry Roy, Savoy Orpheans and most Hotel bands. It helps if the dance
band music is of the 'hot' variety and there is a known vocalist doing
the refrain, such as Al Bowlly. Some good items
are found in the HMV BD- series (note - not the much commoner DB- series).
As with the popular artists commonly found on 10” records, the
classical vocalists from the 12” records are also generally of little
value. This includes Caruso, Gigli, Tauber, Galli-Curci, McCormack,
Clara Butt and so on. Curiously, it is often the obscure classical vocalists
(i.e. ones you’ve not heard of) that would be more likely to be in demand. Many of these artists appeared on single-sided 12” discs
into the 1920s. That does not make their records
any more valuable.
Classical orchestral music, often found in sets in books, is
of no value.
Gilbert & Sullivan sets are of no value.
Records marked Waltz or Polka or One-step- you guessed it - no value
Instrumental music on 10” or 12” such as brass bands,
military bands, fox-trots and generic dance bands (Zonophone Novelty
orchestra, Black Diamonds band etc) are also of no value.
Jazz music is collectable, but only the true Jazz – not the large
volume of Big Band and Swing music commonly found and often thought of
as Jazz. Thus Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Harry James, the Dorsey brothers,
Woody Herman etc are generally of no value (although they all have classics
that still sound good). Early Jazz performers on period records such
as King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, Kid Ory, Louis Armstrong etc are worth
something, but chances are you’ll never see them ‘in the wild”. Note that
early Jazz/Swing was often labelled as Fox-trots.
So, without having to carefully examine every record for artists
and song, how can you quickly determine if you have anything of value?
The same way a collector like myself would – by a quick flick through
the pile looking primarily at the labels.
Record Labels
Common records are on common labels. Here in NZ these are HMV
(red label),
Decca (black),
Regal-Zonophone (red & green),
Parlophone (purple), Capitol
(yellow),
Columbia (black).
These were the labels usually met with in the 40’s and 50’s – where there
are few records of value, and boxes of which are now coming through estate
sales. If your box seems to be composed of these labels, with the
common artists noted above, and nothing unusual strikes your eye, then
you have a $10 box. Sorry.
However, because so many records fall into a small set of commonly
seen label designs, anything out of the ordinary is easily spotted.
Older (pre-WW2) labels that may indicate that something exciting is
in the box are Winner, Zonophone, Vocalion, Piccadilly, Angelus, Apex,
Operaphone, Embassy,
Victor,
Modern labels that can indicate a less common series
(and thus possibly more interesting records) are bright blue HMV,
RCA (Elvis), Nixa,
These earlier English, American & European labels, if found
in any number, are a good indicator of some potential collector value
- Guardsman, Velvet Face, Electron, Regal, Gramophone Monarch, Gramophone
Concert, Cameo, Domino, Gennett, Okeh, Paramount, Perfect, Beka, Fonotipia,
Pathé, Odeon, Vox, Homokord and anything in a foreign script. Edison
Diamond Disc records (1/4" thick) are sought after by those who have
the right type of player - don't try to play these on a standard steel
needle gramophone. These, like early Pathés, are vertical cut (the needle
oscillates up and down) rather than the normal lateral cut (side-to-side).
There seems to be a bit of a local market (mainly in
Sleeves are also a good indicator. If the box of records is
sleeveless, it is highly likely to be valueless – no-one previously
has felt they deserve any care and even if good items, they are likely
to be damaged by rubbing against each other. Conversely, if the records
are in neat sleeves, they’ve been cared for over a long period, implying
they have some residual value and are also likelier to be in better condition
too. Records bearing matching non-generic sleeves
are also a better bet.
Some record labels have collector value regardless of the artist
or tune. These should be immediately obvious to you also, as it is
the appearance of the label or disc that is of interest. Picture discs
(Vogue, Saturn), small-size (7” and under), flexible card or celluloid
(Durium, Filmophone), multi-coloured pictorial labels (ERA, Bel Canto,
Parlophon), coloured ‘wax’ (John Mystery’s, Columbia blue wax, Summit)
and primitive very early records (Berliner, Zon-O-Phone). Original sleeves on any of these special records is
a huge bonus.
A special class of record is the 'special recording', or lacquer
record. These tend to have an aluminium core with
a black coating, and were used for one-off or very low volume recordings,
as they were individually lathe-cut rather than being pressed in a mould.
Their labels are usually hand-written or typed. Examples
can be seen elsewhere on this site (78rpm records pressed in New
Zealand). Despite their individual rarity, value is normally very
low as most are poorly recorded amateur efforts, or someone's wedding
for instance. They are also frequently unplayable as the coating dries
out and cracks badly. Some produced for commercial
radio use are of interest.
Caveat: All the above is going to be mostly correct most
of the time. This does not mean that you can't demonstrate someone on
Ebay paying sizeable sums for a Beethoven concerto on a specific set of
12-inchers, or someone else buying Comedian Harmonists on Australian
HMVs for $30 each. These are exceptions, and if you can perform the research
and locate the keen collector for a particular record you have, well and
good. This article assumes you have neither the time nor the inclination
to do all that.
Condition
Critically, the value of old records is heavily dependent on
their condition. Most records you find will not be in the near-pristine
condition that the more famous record price guides - Dock’s American Premium Record Guide 1900-1965, Osborne’s Official Price Guide to Records - actually base their valuations
on.
A record described as VG+ or V+ (Very Good Plus) isn’t really
that good – it’ll have noticeable extra surface noise, and some greyed
'stressed' grooves. The whole grading scale has been degraded over time.
Common fatal faults include cracks, edge chips encroaching on the grooves
and worn grooves – these show up as grey rather than black. Heat, moisture
and chemical damage are common – people tend to store records in the garage
or under the house where things get spilt on them, or mould attacks. These
are worthless. A Elvis record with some greyed grooves, or a hairline crack,
or an edge chip is worthless – there are plenty of much better copies out
there. Record collectors, and price guides, work at E (Excellent - virtually
no trace of wear or use, shiny black appearance, minimal surface noise.)
Selling & Shipping
Selling the records in bulk, if nothing special, is an option.
This can be through your local auction house or through an ad in your
local free buy/sell mag (like Trade & Exchange). Don’t bother with
a paid ad in the newspaper – chances are it’ll cost more than the records
are worth. Using the local online auction sites, especially TradeMe, is a good option if you live
in a major city. Someone will travel a short distance for a bulk lot
but you’ll not be able to post them – they’re heavy.
Selling any individual special records through TradeMe (or Ebay
if there is international appeal and you’re up to catering for that) is
a good option as long as you know how to pack them safely. A single 78
in the post is very fragile and vulnerable. A very good article,
by Bryan Wright, on safely shipping 78rpm records is at Claxtonola.com. You will also need to be up to describing the record accurately,
especially its condition. Also, remember they’re
SHELLAC, not vinyl (apart from a few very late ones) and never bakelite.
A longer pair of very useful articles about valuing, and selling,
78s can be found on Tim Grayck’s site at www.gracyk.com He is talking
about US records in the US market but it is useful nonetheless, especially
if you can find over here any of the items he notes as being valuable!
His comments on Dock’s price guide are especially pertinent. Locally,
many titles in Dock’s can be found here, but on local labels. These pressings,
even from the same master, are just not as valuable as the original, even
if they are scarcer.
Here I’ve illustrated some records classified, just
according to my opinion, into three categories
You can compare these with your pile!
As an aside, I recently tried to give three boxes of surplus
78s (about 200 discs) to the Salvation Army – they weren’t interested
– too bulky and “no-one wants them”. So I listed
them on TradeMe as a pick-up lot and got over $70 for them! Most I’d classify as Boring, but there were a few Mildly
Interesting ones.
Playing the records
Finally, don't be tempted to play any good records on an old
wind-up gramophone with a steel needle - this can seriously damage
the record, especially the more modern ones, even if a new needle is
used for each play. Leave the use of these up to the professional, or
for records with no intrinsic value. If you have a newer 3-speed turntable
(easily obtained for next to nothing at your local auction room, TradeMe
or Trade & Exchange - Garrard, Radiola and Fountain seem common out
here), then these will work fine, and new stylii are still obtainable for
most common brands. You may find that keeping those old records and actually
playing them will introduce you and your kids to a whole new world of music!
I’m happy to hear from NZ’ers who think they may have
something of interest – note that I’m not generally going to offer
to buy them from you - but I can give you some advice on what you may
have. I'm also happy to hear from those with feedback
and improvements for this article.
Adam Miller adam78@clear.net.nz
Updated February 2009
