"Good or Very Good" Condition ???
By Goldmine grading standards , a record in "Good" condition would have LOADS of DEEP scratches , pops , and clicks , virtually unplayable.
"Very Good" would mean still lots of scratches and marks and not much better than "Good" ....
Based on those gradings , none of the records in the list, not even the big tunes, would be worth more than twenty to fifty quid really.
I think sellers should take the time to be more specific on gradings , and in particular describe whether a record has cue burn , plays slightly off centre, has it been been jocked with to any great extent , and give a separate grading for condition of label etc etc
I'm getting the impression that a lot of collectors outside the UK are becoming increasingly frustrated with UK Northern and Rare Soul dealers / jocks / collectors who ignore factors such as cue burn , label condition etc when selling records, and particularly the dreaded "Exc" grading (after Mint) that only people from the UK seem to use. And UK sellers never seem to recognise that a record can be graded anything less than VG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As if the "Poor / Fair / Good" gradings that everyone else uses around the world don't exist !!!
Gradings should go from:
MINT never played, as if hot off the press
VERY GOOD PLUS slightly less than mint, played only once or twice in its lifetime , the lightest handling scuff from sleeve etc
VERY GOOD some very light superficial marks , still really nice looking
GOOD more marks , cue burn , some scratches
FAIR more scratches (what some would call " good for DJing only, this is what many UK sellers would grade as "Excellent" !)
POOR very scratched all over
The grading of "EXCELLENT " should be completely removed from the mind set of UK sellers !!!
If a record has been jocked with for quite some time (causing groove wear) , but still appears to have very few marks visually , but may have cue burn etc , then I believe such a record should be graded as Fair or Good Plus , NOT as Exc or VG + that UK dealers have got into the habit of describing !!!
Anyway thats my lecture for today!!!
Think this topic of record grading on the soul scene in the UK definitely deserves a major thread on Soul Source. As I say non UK collectors are getting very frustrated at the way UK soul dealers describe what are otherwise only good or fair condition records as "Excellent or Very Good Plus " etc etc
I have to return more than a few big records to UK dealers for refunds over the last 12 months because of this...
Over to you Mr Moderator.................