Frankie Crocker

Not even small quantities, just tiny numbers. Even 1012 is pretty rare but the number of surviving copies of ‘She’s Fire’ is miniscule.

Interesting...higher than Jack Montgomery and some others worth having. The third release by the C.O.D’s so certainly more copies pressed than Kellmac 1010 and 1012, the last throw of the dice.

Robert Pruter explains the situation on pages 172-173 of Chicago Soul. Although ‘Michael’ was a Billboard chart success, the costs of pressing it up were huge and returns disproportionate. Kellmac contracted George Leaner’s Onederful label firm to do their distribution but this was disadvantageous to the company. Subsequent releases of the C.O.D.’s lacked the melodic quality of their early hit so failed to get radio station airplay or sales. ‘She’s Fire’ was released as Kellmac 1010 in 1967. By now, all the principals of the company are broke and the C.O.D.’s disbanded. Interestingly, Kellmac 1011 featuring the Combinations ‘What ‘Cha Gonna Do’ is also dead rare. Clearly Kellmac had no money to press up their final records in quantity. I suspect George Leaner would not have extended any credit to Kellmac given their lack of airplay and low sales. I wonder if Leaner regarded Kellmac as unwanted competition to his stable of labels, so was reluctant to help Singleton and Brownlee out? Both of the mega-rare Kellmac releases sold for over $8,000 apiece in 2012 so this figure could well be topped later today.

Jud’s video clips brought real enjoyment to many. One day, I hope he makes a comeback. Maybe the poster of YouTube clips should have sole editing rights to put the sad tossers out of business.

Depends on who’s interested. A top Northern DJ would be my preference. There are Chicago label hunters who collect by number so this would be a nice filler copy. There’s also the Mystery Shopper of Malibu Beach (no, not Harry) who has millions in the bank and is scooping the rarest of the rare at auctions.

Dollars. Not much difference between dollars and pounds nowadays...

All early bids have been cancelled. The auction has been re-started. Looks like the record has been given an extra clean to produce a better sound. I reckon someone with loadsa money has been speeding things up a bit to clinch the auction. I expect it to go above 5K now.

Thanks for posting. Most reassuring that the crazy prices I paid for some of these are higher than ever, therefore justifying splashing out in the first place...

Topped £1,234 within 24 hours. Sounds OK despite VG- grade. Shame it never had a widespread release compared to their other songs which number amongst the commonest Chicago collectibles.

Condition a limiting factor... Was hoping nobody would notice and skip over thinking just another copy of Michael or I’m A Good Guy...

Just learned that record stores in Michigan have been told to close, like here in Britain I guess. The store owners are self employed so under pressure to earn a living and cover costs. Online shopping will help some store owners to get by but it will be tough on both sides of the Atlantic. If you are stuck in the house, music will be one of the few pleasures during the grim weeks and months ahead so a few record purchases may help keep some businesses ticking over.

PM sent.

What condition is the condition in? The two I’ve see for sale in Pittsburgh were on the rough side.

Not a find as such. He’s lucked onto a small hoard left behind by the artist or producer. The better finds at present are from estate sales of record company executives, representatives and employees such as the hauls coming out of Santa Cruz and Terre Haute. The trick is to drip them out one by one without flooding the market - now the Larry Allen cat is out of the bag, we may see the price fall. I hope so as I was getting fed up of my bids not winning.

Returning to the initial post, much depends on whether-you are buying or selling. As we enter a period of national and global recession, record dealers will face a real slump. The pound has just dropped hugely against the dollar so the value of past, present and future sales is wide open to question. Many asking prices recently have been unrealistic as collectors have tried to unload cheap acquisitions for three figure sums. Much depends on how many copies of a certain record are on the open market at a given time - buyers all want a bargain so sellers need to price their wares according to what the competitors are expecting. Finally, sellers should ask themselves about realistic profit margins and be prepared to let items go for less than top dollar yet still make a decent mark-up above the price they first paid.

Taking into account the recent sale, he has had at least another two on the market as I bid on them. There may even have been another one. So he had a small stash of Larry Allens, leaked out one by one over the last couple of years. There may be more to come. Not sure if any second chance offers were made but if the underbidder had offered a thousand dollars or more, it would make sense to double your money by putting up another for a quick sale. Either way, the bit about stumbling across a second mint copy does not ring true.

WOW...

Very interesting. If there genuinely is a first press, then the price should be way above what might actually be a second issue. I sort of assumed they were all done at the same time but maybe at different pressing plants. The guy who has been trickling them out at $1,000 a pop had some interesting info in his sales blurb when I last bid on his mint copies. So, are we assuming the mint copies date from the 80’s? They look very 60’s to me! I have a rough copy from The Attic in Pittsburgh in need of an upgrade but I reckon I’ll hang back a bit longer to see how this saga unfolds...

No idea whatsover. Was probably feeing too self conscious to notice. Been practising the steps for weeks and was too concerned about not tripping over or making a total fool of myself.

Is there an official list of the final sales? I certainly would be interested in reading a out the sales figures realised. I tried registering to bid online but could not get anywhere so was unable to bid. I would have liked to have attended the auction - anyone have information about who bought what?

Again, really sad news. Real 100 Club characters who enriched the scene. Always enjoyed chatting about records and CD’s with Roger. Condolences to family and friends.

John Manship currently has one up for auction. Bidding will be pretty competitive but then it rarely turns up for sale.

A lot of UK stuff here so could be easier to spot as there are fewer collectors and sellers. Hopefully the dealers will take note of the list and keep a watchful eye. And a helpful hint to the thief, just return the 45’s as you are unlikely to sell them, you don’t want a criminal record and your guilty conscience prevents you from enjoying them as you ain’t got no soul.

Wow Kev. That’s truly awful. Just indicates how woeful security is, and worse still, the presence of scumbags on the scene.

Some DJ’s can not be trusted... best if the security is neutral and does not collect rare records...