Well, this is really up to the family, we are just trying to help...and it's not just "someone" who's in negotiations right now. We will see where it goes.
Thought I might update this. So we had someone fly out who is very prominent in the industry...and gave what we thought was a decent offer. However the family has decided to go with Heritage Auctions, after they came out and took inventory of the collection...so looks like this collection will be going up on Heritage whenever they have it ready to go. Also looks like they will be auctioning off the sound system as well...some super highend WAVAC electronics (one of a kind pre-amp with POURED pure gold trace on routered teflon boards) and a Continuum dual tonearm TT. I am good friends with the previous distributor of WAVAC, and I remember this pre-amp being a couple year project...pretty wild! I want to thank eddiel for the idea of Heritage. (and R. totale for the positive re-enforcement)
Glad to hear it. Based on how you described the collection, an auction was probably the only way they were going to see anywhere near what the collection is worth. Same with the hardware.
Heritage is the place......the collection would have gotten 75% less in a set sale to an auction individual (most stores/collectors).
75% less is probably generous. I'd expect something closer to 90% less for a large collection of real value. The bigger the collection, the bigger the haircut typically.
Likely due to the fact that they collection is huge so piecing it out themselves will take a lot of work. Selling as a whole, you won't find a buyer on this forum for that collection. Plenty will want it, none can afford it
I think with minimal effort it can be pieced out by genre and age. Folks here have A LOT of disposable income.. I don't see how some random auction house would beat anyone's offer here.. Auction houses are just middle men...
"minimal effort" is not the way anyone, with a realistic understanding of the situation, would describe the effort required to move 7,000+ records of this level of collection. Heritage are not some random auction house. Their buyer reach is larger than this forums marketplace, especially for a collection like this.
This is a very special group of records.....only a Heritage can attract the worldwide high high end buyers on this amount of primo stuff....like Buddy Holly's estate stuff.
I've been collecting for 20+ year and have never heard of Heritage. Or do they just list everything individually on ebay/discogs?
I've been collecting for just as long and I only discovered them a few years ago myself. They have their own site. They have all sorts of auctions. Generally, I stayed away from auction houses so many, except the most famous, were usually under my radar. I came across them while researching a poster I had and fell off my chair at the prices they were getting for it vs eBay or anywhere else. : )
Yup. Anything that approximates "minimal effort" and a direct sell by the owner would almost certainly result in "minimal return" on what sounds like a world-class collection. The auction house is gonna take their 15-25% cut (plus 10-15% from the buyer as a "premium") but it's extremely likely (almost 100% certain) that the prices they get for this will more than make up for that. If you have a very substantial item (or set of items) that is effectively unique, as it sounds there is here (Rudy Van Gelder collection), you only need two well-heeled collectors who realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own it to make more than you would have by selling the entire collection on your own.
So basically Heritage is like the Ebay of ultra-rare and uber-expensive stuff? Thankfully I am not interested in that stuff so Ill carry on with my ebay/discogs route...
Well it's an auction house, like Sotheby's, Christie's, etc so not really like eBay. It's one of the top auction houses in the world. Definitely requires a different level of budget! I won't be winning any of their auctions anytime soon. : )
I just hope they made the right decision, the offer was about 1/3 of the actual value...approximately, you can never know exactly. So it was a good offer. The guy didn't come in and undercut in any way. That was just for the vinyl, not the equipment. I would throw a plug at ebay though...I've gotten a ton of great NM promo and first pressings off ebay at reasonable prices. In fact it's gotten so that I prefer to get my used vinyl from there vs the record stores...there's something about the fluorescent lighting that makes most vinyl look better than it is...once I get them home under a dual ceiling light configuration, I see things I just didn't see in the store. I have about six sellers that never disappoint. After 4 months away, I'm finally back home to my Hot Rod Rig!
Are you kidding me? Mint jazz records from the collection of a legend........1/3 of the value! Insulting. He'd have, or they, full book value on eBay. Heritage: more.
This record set is going to be catnip to a certain type of very rich collector. You only need two of them who are not willing to let this slip out of their hands. The value of that kind of collection is not merely the sum total of the value of the individual pieces. The added value part is difficult to assign but can be tremendous. If the dealer offered 1/3 of the "value" of the individual pieces, you can expect to get 100%+more from the auction. Even deducting 20-ish% for the auction house, you're talking a lot more money in your hands.
We'll see, I will definitely let this thread know when all is said and done...the original offer was right at 1 mil. for the Jazz, Blues and Some of the Rock (we received quite a few choice titles for our help) but this collection was almost a privilege to help organize...things like a NM Beatles butcher block cover...Still sealed copy of Velvet Underground's Warhol Torso jacket, things as a vinyl collector I'll never forget! ..so we'll see where Heritage goes with it.
The jazz unplayed is the key to it all. Final upgrades on amazing titles. To the moon with the Dallas crew.
