One of the joys of car-booting is you never know what you might turn up. The charity shops have long since armed themselves with discogs and ebay, so much so that some even put comments on their LPs quoting the latest price and matrix number straight off the net.
Car boots have slightly more freedom but even there the chances of coming across mint copies is slight these days. I started to buy classical lps out of interest and a fascination with the particularities of label variations and hard to find guides for the genre. I have come across a couple of ‘holy grails’ but not quite as holy as required for the top-end collector….usually in the far-east these days.
Last year I found a couple of collector pieces by Leonid Kogan and David Oistrakh but neither was mint enought to sell. Still just the fact that they appeared gave some hope ( who knows how long until car boots are common again) for future trawls.
The best find was this album by David Oistrakh on Columbia. Before even playing it I had worked out it was not the top dollar item which was the first edition 1960 Columbia blue label as above. Currently going for a £1000 dollars plus if mint. Mine was the less sought after Red semi circular label edition from 1965 as below. That in mint condition has gone for £100 online but here the rub.
It looked pretty good before cleaning and placing on turntable but within a few grooves the dread click of a probable needle drop could be heard. I tried to clean it away but to no avail. Shame as it a very good record and as with all Columbia and Decca sixties vinyl it otherwise perfect and very low background sound. But a pop is a pop to a collector in South Korea so my car boot payday was over……better luck next time….
About a month later I again found a rare record but thsi time I bought it knowing it not in good enough nick but still a quid fine for a rarity.
This time it was a Leonid Kogan LP. Another name to search for in classical…for some reason it violinists which fetch highest prices. Maybe they simply did not press as many copies as major orchestral works so that why rarer.
The LP I found was Kogan’s Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Again a sought after LP in mint condition (£180 +) and this time it had a Columbia dark blue label.
Mine showed wear and tear even at car boot and sure enough when got home although playable not a selling item at all.
So potential profit £1200..actual profit zero but that not the point. I now listening to a very good Lp for a pound and learnign not just about classical music but rare records and it sounds great.
Shame about the clicks but there you go…happy hunting folks.