Frankie Crocker

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.

Auction finished at $1,400 ie £1.054.89. 31 bids from 11 bidders making for an interesting tournament. Went for appreciably less than a few weeks ago. Hope both parties are satisfied with the final outcome. Records of this stature are deserving of the fullest description when put up for sale.

Anytime Julian. Take care.

Due to finish at auction in just over two hours. Same copy sold last month. Was returned by the buyer due to distortion problem. Seller could not tell if it was vinyl/styrene or put up sound clip? Potential bidders and buyers are advised to message the seller who has not flagged up possible issues. I bid the first time around but am not bidding this time. Don’t want any fellow collectors to burn their fingers BUT the record could actually be OK QED.

Got to be a boot. Loads of them around. Did not sell at auction at this price so must be a set sale. Sold in pounds rather than dollars so UK flogger at work. Great record and one of the best blue-eyed soul releases of all time...holy grail...floorpacker...blah blah blah...perfect for some saddo to knock out forgeries

Thanks for posting as usual. Yet another mixed-bag of figures with the Set Sale items dragging down the novelty. Overtones went cheaply for a great record but the copy was flawed. Little Richie went for far less than the copy on John’s website? Still, compulsive viewing for collectors and dealers alike.

Hi Andy. You always had good taste and bought wisely years ahead of the pack...

So, the best one to have must be the red label version! Here’s hoping there will plenty of silver label copies being dumped out of collections in the next few months.

Sixteen copies of the red label version compared to twelve of the silver variant on Popsike. I was blind to the red label sales but have been watching the silver ones trickling out as I’ve been after this version for a while; not got a copy yet as the price has remained higher than it should be for a record that crops regularly.

Sinceres was £30 in the mid 90’s. I had 4 from A1 on Melrose in Los Angeles. Great warehouse, now sadly gone. Got me into collecting Pzazz by number. Thankfully I kept a copy - just amazed at what the one in question sold for. Great record anyway

I can’t recall seeing a red label Johnny Summers for sale before. It was on a Millionaires CD and Tim Brown’s rarest list about 20 years ago. The silver label alternate version has cropped up plenty of times in the last few years. If someone has a box of 25, and this is a possibility given their scarcity, the seller would be better off letting them go one at a time. I have not seen any evidence that a hoard might exist so let’s wait and see...