Frankie Crocker

Great photo of Shirley here. The picture appears on the front of The Wigan Casino Story Goldmine CD (GSCD51). I am pictured in the crowd photographs inside the sleeve notes, a photo taken close to the time the Footsee picture sleeve image was captured.

A copy might just have sold in Pennsylvania for £800+. The Count has been putting it on eBay for months, discounting a little every now and then. I suspect he’s had an offer he could not refuse so its been removed from his sales list. Someone might have got a bargain as the record was in decent condition.

I’d have taken the Jeanette - still not got one but refuse to pay the going rate in the hope it will dip in value. Great record too. Hayes Cotton is a special case - decent sound but known more for its rarity. I would have tried to negotiate a trade. Rare records are worth more than money - you can trade records you don’t like for records you like.

Hi Steve. Sometimes, as a DJ, you might be expected to buy records that other people like, even when you not fond of them. It’s OK to sell records to raise the funds to buy more records - no shame there. But, as we’ve mentioned, dealers intercepting auction items to hike up sales prices and profits is dastardly from a frugal collector’s point of view.

Yes, the seller hiding his mates’ bids or his other eBay account details or just keeping his business ‘private’ wink, wink, nudge, nudge. ‘Private’ means avoid, steer clear, watch out, something fishy going on...

Fair question. But when you’re in a store in the USA, you sample the first few bars, if they sound Northern, they go in the ‘definite’ or ‘maybe’ piles...let the piles stack up, take the lot and count the cost later. Buying in bulk can be hazardous - in every 100, there will be one cracked, one off centre, a few you can’t get into and hopefully a few that will grow on you. In this case, the sound did not grow on me back in the UK but some of the initial regret has evaporated tonight. The worst regrets I have were when I didn’t buy a record when I could or should have.

Yes, rather surprising. My particular interest stems from having a copy, but I wondered if it was the same as the one quoted in the Manship Priceguide. I regretted splashing out $2-300 about 15 years ago but now I’m thinking I should try harder to like this record.

The Private bidders have shivved the number up, but surely nobody put in a genuine bid. Hopefully someone will refer the case to eBay.

Magnetics currently at $787. All the bidders’ identities are hidden for a Private reason, probably because there is something to conceal

Further research on Popsike and Soul-Source shows copies with identical labels and release numbers. From this, it looks like there's only the one version which prompts the question of what was the Manship Priceguide referring to?

Just wondering whether there are different variations of the release currently up for auction 6/1/21. I Need Your Love/Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right is listed in Manship’s Priceguide #7 at £300 and quotes the release number as ds1036. So, are there two versions of this release with different matrix details in the run-out, or is there just the one version? Any info out there would be appreciated.

Thanks Chalky. I was thinking along the lines of 70’s Emidiscs being cut on 7 inch acetates at 45 rpm so when 10 inch oddities appear, what was the cutting standard? The more I look at the acetates in question, the more baffled I am. The recent one also has significant edge damage like the previous two but they all look different suggesting someone has got hold of some old, damaged discs... Mike’s point above points to details that anyone would question.

Alarm bells now ringing. I smell a rat. Apologies to anyone I might have mislead earlier. The seller could explain the provenance to help clarify matters. Another thing puzzling me is how can a 10 inch disc play at 45 rpm when a 7 inch record would (in contrast to a 12 inch playing at 33.3 rpm)?

Hi Keith. If you’ve not yet decided on a cover photograph yet, could I suggest you opt for a collage of membership cards, patches and record labels. I do not think a single cover photograph would do justice to your project - a range of photos would certainly enhance the contents, but many of the high quality ones out there have been used in earlier publications. Is the publication date known yet? Looking forward to seeing the book on sale.

Very noble of you. You would have been justified had you paid a large sum for it in the first place. A commission sale should ideally return the original outlay but the risk at auction is you can actually lose out.

I’ve only got the yellow demo...has anyone got a black felt pen I can borrow to colour it in? A mate of mine had the orange release of the Detroit Executives on Pameline so he coloured it with a green felt pen for a joke...well he’s not laughing now as it’s selling for £100

Doni Burdick and Soul Communicators achieved four-figure status having crept up and up, year after year. Not seen the Patti Austin release on a black issue very often. These are all top-drawer sounds and essential records for serious collectors. David Gage went for a much lower price than Manship’s Priceguide figure. Virtually unknown records like this suffer from lack of exposure and therefore limited demand. I suspect this was the copy offered on Soul Source but nobody took the plunge. Had I been the owner of this rarity, I would have kept hold of it. I was surprised it was not withdrawn from the auction given the minimal interest shown.

The whole haul has an eclectic look about it. The range of acetates suggests an interesting variety of sources. There are Emidiscs present that might set alarms ringing. The two disks in question look like studio test presses and at 8 inches diameter, not a 70’s knock-off. Someone has paid a hefty sum for the Washpan disk so were convinced it had potential value.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ve just checked the red labels on Popsike and they indicate Jet Set as the B side. In Manship #6, both demos and issues have the same B side, Jet Set. There was some controversy about the B side as I can remember taping it for someone to clear up a problem. Pleased to see that it has appreciated in value so £275-£325 appears to be the current price range for a mint copy.

They both look totally legit. Sadly, the pair look like they are delaminating on the run-ins with the lacquer missing. The turntable looks a bit naff so the stylus may be worn? That said, to auction a disc like this in the hope it will fetch good money, the seller should attempt to explain the three skips; are there noticeable nicks or gouges causing the problems? If the lacquer is actually missing where the disc skips, this should be made abundantly clear. Some skips can be fixed easily so if there is scope for this, it could be indicated. This could be a bargain-buy, especially if the disc is OK and the turntable is at fault, but who would be willing to spend big to find out?

Sam Dees went for a tidy sum. Turley Richards continues to creep upwards in price as demand is insatiable. Loads of Barbara Lynn around at present but this one broke the £200 barrier. No records snapped up for re-sale as far as I can work out...

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.