Hitting the Mother Lode

[MylesBAstor]

What's been your biggest record haul (s)?

Three stand out in my mind.

1. Many years ago, I was walking down the street near my alma mater at 116th and Broadway and encountered a fellow selling records on the sidewalk. Turned out there were so Mercurys, RCA and other labels that I had to ask if they had relatives. He answered yes and after three weeks of negotiating, I managed to get over to his apartment to see what other goodies he might had in store. Well I arrive at his 106th St. and low and behold his ENTIRE 2 bedroom apt. is full of boxes of LPs. Turned out he was an out-of-work, Manhattan School of Music, singer who was making ends meet working at a library in Harlem. The library was being renovated and this huge record collection that had been donated to the system many years ago when a radio station changed formats, was headed for the dumpster. So of course, he did what any red blooded music lover would do. He adopted all the records and brought them to his apt. So I spent a couple of hours sifting through all the boxes filled to the brim with albums and ended up picking out about 400 that I paid $3 apiece. When I get home -- and I'm sure every collector has had this experience-- I wondered about the records I had left and were there more should have brought home. So I call him back and now he tells me someone told me these records are valuable and he should charge more. So quickly I reminded him, sure you could charge more but then you would have to deal with returns if the albums had problems. So long story short, I managed a second visit and paid $5 an album. So in total, I bought about 700 albums from him, with 95% of them being in near mint or mint shape. Mercury, London, Argo, RCA, L'Oiseau Lyre, Vanguard, you name it.

2. Now this shows my age. Every Saturday, my record collecting buddies and I would rush to the newsstand at 8 PM on Saturday to pick up the early edition of the Sunday NY Times and scour the For Sale section for records sales. One Saturday night, find a record sale ad, get in contact with the person on Sunday and head up to his house in Westchester later that PM. Turned out he was a Priest with a large record collection who was moving to Asia and needed to sell his albums. Ended up with about 100 albums.

3. Whenever I travel (traveled) to a city on business, used to go through the Yellow pages for the record store listings. (ever wonder why those pages in the phone book were missing from your hotel room? )Of course now, there's The Vinyl District app that saves me the trouble!) So I was in Edinburgh, Scotland on vacation and as typical, was scouring the phone book for record stores. Turns out there were several stores and turned out one of them was run by an American ex-pat from Colorado whose store was chock full of EMIs, Deccas, etc., all priced at 3 pounds or so. Bought about 100 albums or so, packed them in my handy dandy canvas LL Bean bags (they really are great for hauling records) and headed back to the B&B for the rest of the stay. Eventually my ex's and my vacation was over and we headed back to the airport to catch the shuttle back to London. As we were going through security (in the days when it was actually pleasurable to travel!) hauling my two LL Beans filled with records, the agent said to my ex-wife, "is that your husband's record collection?" To which she replied, "I wish that was his record collection!" Bada boom...

There was of course finding that mint copy of Flamenco Fever on M&K Records two years ago at Axpona for $10.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I must be one of the few who has never had such luck.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

In the early days of CD, when a lot of folks were throwing out or giving away their LPs, one of the VPs at the company I worked for heard that I was into music and audio. He asked if I wanted his record collection, as he “knew after listening to a CD demo I’d never use them again.” About 150 LPs all in really good condition. Some good stuff (Sintara, 50s and 60s movie soundtracks, a lot of decent classical albums) and not so good (way more Lawrence Welk than anyone should have, 101 strings, Montovani, a lot of religious LPs).

Early 1990s, heading up a flight of stairs to a friend's apartment for a party, happened to notice a box of records in a trash dumpster under the staircase. Wife says “just go get them...” All early classic rock albums, Zep, Deep Purple, Rainbow, CCR, and lots of others, about 70 LPs altogether. They looked trashed, but after cleaning most were quite playable.

Stopping at a small record shop in the San Fernando Valley in the mid 1980s, I spotted what looked like a brand new Mercury Living Presence Starker Bach Solo Cello box set for $7.99. I asked the woman at the counter about them, and she laughed “We found a few boxes of those old albums in storage, must have been there for years. Someone bought about 30 of them this morning. I found about 20 more, all brand new original Mercuries, $6.99 for singles, and $7.99 for box sets, many of the highly sought after ones. Unfortunately, they were all together in a box in storage years later and were part of the collection that got stolen.

[MylesBAstor]

I must be one of the few who has never had such luck.

Just remember for every big haul, there are 500 disappointments. Such is the nature of record collecting. So it is just like the lotto; the more you play, the better chance you have of winning. Can't tell you all the adventures where the LPs were trsshed, mono, worthless, etc.

[tom_hankins]

I love the early jazz monos. Not so much classical.

[lasercd]

I have so many stories I could spend all day on this subject. Many major hauls over the years. Here are just three of many:

1. In the early 90s I was given a tip to check out Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for old 70s Italian prog rock albums. These albums were selling well into the hundreds back then and now some of them fetch into the thousands. I hit paydirt in two gift shops. One store had a clearance section that was filled with sealed copies of albums by Latte E Miele, J.E.T., Formula Tre, Il Rovescio Della Medaglia, ao - all for $4 each. I cleared out the section. I then asked the owner if she had anything else that might be of interest. She said "only these 45s behind me". I then realized she was standing in front of a wall of 45s. I was able to find multiple copies of rare 45s with picture sleeves by Le Orme, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Osanna, and others. I visited another shop on the next block and made a similar haul. The store owner's eyes were popping out of his head while I cleaned out all these albums that had an inch of dust on them. He got wise...over his shoulder up on a shelf was an ancient 8-track of Triade: 1998 La Storia Di Sabazio. I thought it would be fun to pick up and based on what I was paying for the albums I figured he would just give it to me for a dollar or two. He told me he wanted $25 for it. Its probably still sitting there. From both shops I scored about 30-40 LPs and 80 45s but in terms of rarity it was off the charts.

Funny thing about this story is that it became part of legend in prog rock circles. Like a game of telephone the story came back to me about this huge collection of rare Italian prog that someone scored up in the Bronx.

2. German News used to have a shop on E 86th St. They were the importer for German music, gifts, food, magazines, etc. I stumbled on their shop one day and found all kinds of rare albums selling for absolutely nothing. I cleaned them out and asked if they had any more. They told me that I could go to their warehouse where they had lots of albums. I went to the warehouse which was in the 90s on 1st Avenue. It was in the middle of the block and completely dilapidated. There was this old German man who basically napped there all day. He was thrilled to have company. It was very well organized and I scored incredible rarities on Brain and Bellaphon. I was buying in case lots. I grabbed about 3000 albums from them. If I could go back to one place in the time machine it would probably have been here. I am certain I left behind priceless jazz rarities. In fact at one point I went back with Victor Goldstein and he and I grabbed a load of EMI classical (they had thousands of classical albums). Eventually they shut the place down. I kill myself thinking about what was probably still there.

3. I was friendly with a guy who used to work for JEM Records. He was an old prog head. He told me his ex-wife had all his albums in her basement and she wanted them gone. I drove out to Long Island and I cherry picked hundreds of rare prog albums from all over the world. Again...if I could only go back in time. I'm sure I left behind some amazing stuff.

[MylesBAstor]

I have so many stories I could spend all day on this subject. Many major hauls over the years. Here are just three of many:

1. In the early 90s I was given a tip to check out Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for old 70s Italian prog rock albums. These albums were selling well into the hundreds back then and now some of them fetch into the thousands. I hit paydirt in two gift shops. One store had a clearance section that was filled with sealed copies of albums by Latte E Miele, J.E.T., Formula Tre, Il Rovescio Della Medaglia, ao - all for $4 each. I cleared out the section. I then asked the owner if she had anything else that might be of interest. She said "only these 45s behind me". I then realized she was standing in front of a wall of 45s. I was able to find multiple copies of rare 45s with picture sleeves by Le Orme, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Osanna, and others. I visited another shop on the next block and made a similar haul. The store owner's eyes were popping out of his head while I cleaned out all these albums that had an inch of dust on them. He got wise...over his shoulder up on a shelf was an ancient 8-track of Triade: 1998 La Storia Di Sabazio. I thought it would be fun to pick up and based on what I was paying for the albums I figured he would just give it to me for a dollar or two. He told me he wanted $25 for it. Its probably still sitting there. From both shops I scored about 30-40 LPs and 80 45s but in terms of rarity it was off the charts.

Funny thing about this story is that it became part of legend in prog rock circles. Like a game of telephone the story came back to me about this huge collection of rare Italian prog that someone scored up in the Bronx.

2. German News used to have a shop on E 86th St. They were the importer for German music, gifts, food, magazines, etc. I stumbled on their shop one day and found all kinds of rare albums selling for absolutely nothing. I cleaned them out and asked if they had any more. They told me that I could go to their warehouse where they had lots of albums. I went to the warehouse which was in the 90s on 1st Avenue. It was in the middle of the block and completely dilapidated. There was this old German man who basically napped there all day. He was thrilled to have company. It was very well organized and I scored incredible rarities on Brain and Bellaphon. I was buying in case lots. I grabbed about 3000 albums from them. If I could go back to one place in the time machine it would probably have been here. I am certain I left behind priceless jazz rarities. In fact at one point I went back with Victor Goldstein and he and I grabbed a load of EMI classical (they had thousands of classical albums). Eventually they shut the place down. I kill myself thinking about what was probably still there.

3. I was friendly with a guy who used to work for JEM Records. He was an old prog head. He told me his ex-wife had all his albums in her basement and she wanted them gone. I drove out to Long Island and I cherry picked hundreds of rare prog albums from all over the world. Again...if I could only go back in time. I'm sure I left behind some amazing stuff.

I used to go to that place #2. ; it was called Bremen House IIRC. They also had a gourmet food section too in the store and the LPs were more of a sidelight.

[lasercd]

Yes. Bremen House. They had a small section of clearance albums upstairs. I remember buying multiple copies of Junco Partners for absolutely nothing. I think they thought I was insane.

And then there was the time I hit the Greek gift shop across from the Port Authority....

[JackD201]

My Mom had a modest collection of some 200 LPs. Consisting of mostly romantic period classical and standards, her thing was to buy an LP and then make mixed tapes. This meant the records were played just a few times each. By the mid 2000s they were just sitting in storage. When she found out I was getting back into vinyl she gave them all to me. Notable LP? Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff. Sounds awful but hey, it's the man! Love ya Mom!

[allenh]

I must be one of the few who has never had such luck.

You and me both, Johnny.

[MylesBAstor]

I laugh when I read Mikey's columns and his going to garage sales. I left that period behind a long time ago. The returns were too few and far between. Even street sales and flea markets are just basically fleas today. That's because everyone has seen Antiques Roadshow and thinks every record they find is their Lotto ticket.

[Alex Siufy]

Yeah, everything is $20 these days, shame... This is something I wanted to avoid in the store... Real, fair prices, more often than not CHEAPER than online.

My "big find" was eBay Deutschland, in what must've been the mid-90s. For technical reasons I assume, all the eBay sites were run of separate databases. So eBay Germany had entirely different stuff than eBay US. Or eBay UK. I scored tons of german rarities for cheap then! Not $1-$3 cheap, more like $10, but still, those were $200-plus records!

[MylesBAstor]

Yeah, everything is $20 these days, shame... This is something I wanted to avoid in the store... Real, fair prices, more often than not CHEAPER than online.

My "big find" was eBay Deutschland, in what must've been the mid-90s. For technical reasons I assume, all the eBay sites were run of separate databases. So eBay Germany had entirely different stuff than eBay US. Or eBay UK. I scored tons of german rarities for cheap then! Not $1-$3 cheap, more like $10, but still, those were $200-plus records!

I found the same thing when searching for vacuum tubes and records also. It seems sellers have the option to sell world wide or just in their own country. I have searched for instance ebay for the UK, Germany and Japan.

[MylesBAstor]

Bump.

[tom_hankins]

My wife and i have been on a roll the past few months at one store. We are up around 100 records from just the $1 section. He even has return policy on them. So far zero throwaways . Probably 80% to my collection, rest to my niece. We go every 2 weeks.

[Bill Hart]

Every record has a story....
I don't really remember any "good old days" stories, I owned a bunch of records in the '70s and bought a lot more when "The Death of Vinyl" (TM) occurred. Some turned out to be valuable as collector's items, but not stuff I really listen to with any regularity. I continue to buy regularly, but mainly online, and mainly older records. Sometimes, I've gotten rare, valuable pressings very cheaply, but I think you increase the odds when you are buying constantly. One of my better "scores" a few years ago came from a store in Pa that does no online or mail order. (Ken knows the place). I had purchased a pretty rare Vertigo from a dealer in Queens and he was nice enough to let me know that this Pa. store had a trove of early Swirls. I called and the guy was apologetic- they had sold all of them, save one. The one he still had- Patto's Hold Your Fire- was probably one of the most desirable and he agreed to sell it at what I considered to be less than market for a very clean player. My wife's friend, a school- teacher who lives in the area, agreed to go pick it up for me. That is an album I'm always delighted to play for someone unfamiliar with the band. There's a certain status in collecting to getting the rarities cheap- since anybody can pay top dollar, and that's not a challenge. Thing is, I've never considered myself a record collector. I have had a lot of records- probably around 14,000 at my peak a few years ago before I culled a lot of stuff out- gave much of it away, and had someone sell some with a "split" so I didn't have to deal with the mechanics of online selling. (Much of that was stuff that wasn't uber valuable, and I either had better copies, or just didn't really want the records).
I don't have the stamina or focus to bin dive all day at a show. I burn out. (though I had great fun with Ken at the WFMU show recently, and at the Austin record fair last year). So, stuff arrives here by mail from all over, every day a package, or three, maybe a day with no good mail, and then a bunch shows up the next day.
Are there still hidden stashes somewhere that remain undiscovered? I'm sure there are. In the car world, these are called "barn finds" (whether or not they were stored in a barn). Or the guy who buys some sketchy chassis on E-Bay or Craigslist for almost nothing, and it turns out to be a one-off of some something totally rare. I don't expect that, but am happy when I get something nice to listen to, without having to pay a heavy tariff.

[Rob]

When I was still in college and had no money I scoured thrift stores, goodwill etc., the best I could muster were a few HP recommended Living Stereos/Mercs for $0.25 ea. Back then I was obsessed with collecting TAS Superdiscs, this was several years before Classic Records and the onslaught of reissues. My local dealer (Bruce) who I would become friends with had a half dozen old retired guys hitting up all the usual places in search of TAS superdiscs, namely Mercs and RCAs. He took me to the room at the back of the store and there were shelves packed with what was at the time, 500+ of the rarest Mercs and RCAs, he must of had a dozen copies just of "Power of The Orchestra" back then they were $200 a pop and I didn't own one. It became crystal clear why I couldn't luck into these records, there's like an army of guys searching full time! That's when it hit me, I'd rather be the guy that can afford $200 for a record than the guy trying to make a living selling them, most of these scavengers couldn't afford to buy the records they were selling. Over the last thirty years, Bruce ultimately racked up 700+ original Blue Notes this way which he has begun selling off since the Music Matters reissues hit the market.

[Bill Hart]

Rob- this was the '80s? Sid Marks was writing about those, and Princeton had lots- at a price- back then. Aside from the more expensive ones, I have a Starker, Dvorak: Cello Concerto In B Minor, Op. 104 / Bruch: Kol Nidrei in mono that still has the stupid sticker from Princeton on the cover- I think it was $5.99. It is a great record.

[Rob]

yes it was the 80s. around that time my cousin that lived in the SF Bay area (Palo Alto) volunteered on Saturdays at a non profit that took in loads of donated hardcover books and LPs from affluent widows. he put himself in charge of sorting the vinyl. talk about the fox guarding the hen house! he amassed a huge and enviable collection of early stereo classical and esp rare jazz records during this time. it would make you cry knowing what little gelt it cost him.