Do old 78 RPMs have any value?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by LarryT, Oct 17, 2011.

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  1. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    Non-ultra Joy (the cheap, watered down stuff) can be good. The concentrated stuff leaves too much residue behind.
     
  2. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    When I left school and couldn't get a job the government made me do gardening for old people. One old boy (think he was a bit lonely), the only music he had was an old 78 player and some Johnny Ray 78's, which he used to play for us on our breaks. Happy days.

    I think in the UK 99 percent of 78's are worthless. You can't even give them away.
     
  3. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    That's what he uses and swears by it. I may have to experiment on a few worthless records.
     
  4. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Same in the US.
     
  5. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    I have to say that even though I have absolutely no interest in most of the music collected on the 78s I've found, I think it's a sin that most of them are being destroyed or devalued to almost nothing. I hate the idea of seeing a major recorded format disappearing completely and it seems that the 78s just might do exactly that not too long from now.

    I have a few in my collection "just because". But then again, I also own some CED Videodiscs for the same reason.
     
  6. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    R&B and early R'n'R sound great on 78. Sometimes even trashed looking copies sound good. I have a Big Mama Thornton that looks like it has paint spilled on it, but still packs a wallop.

    As far as cheap stuff, I like Harry James instrumental numbers.
     
  7. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    I have at least 300 78s leftover from a larger collection that I cherry-picked the artists I wanted from. I have them up off the floor in milk cartons, covered with a canvas tarp, in my garage, but they're going to have go sometime. None are old, no blues or early country, but many unknown (to me) artists and labels.
     
  8. Trashman

    Trashman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I don't see 78s disappearing completely, as there are still many people who own and collect them. There are collections out there than literally have tens-of-thousands of 78s. The format isn't in danger of going extinct anytime soon.

    The biggest concern I have are the rare 78s in the hands of people who don't know what they have. For example, I'm sure we can all cringe at the thought of the last surviving example of a particular blues recording being lost just because someone threw it away out of ignorance.

    The truth is, however, that a large percentage of 78s are recordings that were either pressed in huge numbers or are recordings that have very little musical value to today's collectors. When I recently visited on 78 specialty store in Minneapolis (called Vintage Music...well worth a visit if you like vintage phonographs and 78s!), the owner pointed to boxes of 78s containing organ solos saying "Nobody asks for these records, but here they sit just in case someone comes looking for them."
     
  9. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host



    Unless it's an organ solo by Thomas Waller...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK6pt-nXSvI
     
  10. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    The Portland Goodwill stores won't accept them, so that should tell you a lot about 78s.
     
  11. fattyramone

    fattyramone New Member

    Location:
    Cambridge UK
    This is a constant theme of mine too , how many one-off items , acetates etc are lost to the dump due to the wrong " expert" not recognising what they represent and ( wrongly) confidently telling the seller " theres nothing here of any value , id dump'em if i were you"

    It often takes the right person being in the right place at the right time to save something for history or at the very least resigning the item in question to another 50 years hidden in the attic.
     
  12. Casino

    Casino Senior Member

    Location:
    BossTown
    Yep - blues, R&B and R&R (including vocal group harmony) can be worth big $$$.

    However, generally speaking, the pop singers, big band and most classical aren't worth much.
     
  13. fini

    fini Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rohnert Park, CA
    MY local thrift wouldn't take electronics that need work. I'm willing to bet a few McIntosh monoblocks (with dead tubes), or classic solid state gear from the 70s (with blown fuses) ended up in the trash there. Maybe I should get a job there...
    :pineapple::pineapple:
     
  14. fini

    fini Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rohnert Park, CA
    On the subject at hand (sorry for the diversion), I have a few 78 albums I inherited from my Mom (born in '24), mostly semi-popular jazz albums, boogie woogie and such.
     
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