RomanceClass.com Forums Romance Organizing and Cleaning 78 Records

One of the boxes I brought up from the basement is a box of 78 records. Do you think these things will be worth anything? Or will I barely make enough to cover shipping costs, to mail these off to some bulk collector?

Everything old is worth something but I think it matters what the 78 records are if they are valuable or not.

i had some of them, along with the 33's and my daughter had someone that was a collector review them...and they dont amt to anything...and some of the ones i had you would think they would of...she also had them look at some old piano sheet music...just not much of a call for them i guess...

always best to check you may have that odd one out thats worth a few bucks

My Mum has a pile of these too ~ and she recently bought a record player which is supposed to be able to play them

I did think about buying a record player, but then that's even more clutter, I'm trying to get rid of stuff!

I want Bob to go through them and see if any are worth anything (by doing ebay searches on each title) but as the steel pile is still in the back yard the chance of this happening is slim. Hmmm. Maybe I should just see what a collector pays for boxes of them. But I hate to miss out if there's a rare gem in there.

I did some searches and it looks like some of these records are worth $20-$30 each so far more than the pile of steel . However, how to demonstrate their level of scratches etc. to the buyers ...

So now I sent Bob out to buy us a record player that plays 78 records, which is apparently fairly rare in our modern world. Then I'll record each one, there's only one song per side. I was going to post those on YouTube so the ebay potential buyers could see exactly what they were like, but I am thinking that would be a copyright violation and could cause problems, even if I'm doing it to demonstrate the quality level. It's odd that I can post tons of photos of the record but not the more important sound quality when trying to sell it. So maybe I'll post the videos on my own site.

Ideas?

I am not sure that would be a copyright violation - it seems more like archiving.

im not sure that thin line is something id want to cross.

It turns out that there's really no difference in posting an audio of a record you own and posting a MP3 you own - i.e. in both cases you are illegally distributing it. I suppose in a way it's like posting the text of a book you own. Yes you own it so you can read it - but you're not allowed to distribute it to the world.

I ended up selling about half of them, even with two auction runs. So the remaining ones, I have to find time to post on my website and see if someone will buy them eventually. I just haven't gotten to doing that ... my backlog is absolutely immense right now.

Here are the 78 records I still have -

Betty Johnson If It's Wrong to Love You / I Dreamed Bally
Carson Robison and Frank Luter Little Green Valley / Birmingham Jail Varsity
Dinah Shore Till / Fascination RCA Victor
Dinah Shore Younger than Springtime / A Wonderful Guy Columbia
Don Cherry w/ Ray Conniff Band of Gold / Rumble Boogie Columbia
Don Rondo Two Different Worlds / He Made You Mine Jubilee
Eddie Lawrence King Arthur's Mines / The Old Philosopher Coral
Eileen Rodgers Miracle of Love / Unwanted Heart Columbia
Frank Sinatra Chicago / All the Way Capitol
Johnnie Ray Just Walking in the Rain / In the Candlelight Columbia
Johnny Mathis Warm and Tender / It's Not for Me to Say Columbia
Kitty Kallan I Don't Think you Love Me Any More / Little Things Mean a Lot Decca
Nelson Eddy Silent Night Holy Night / Adeste Fideles Columbia
Nervous Norvus Dig / Transfusion Dot
Percy Faith The Touch of your Hand / Begin the Beguine Varsity
Primo Scala's Banjo & Accordion Orchestra Underneath the Arches / Side by Side London
Roy Hamilton You'll Never Walk Alone / I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Epic
The Platters Winner Take All / The Magic Touch Mercury
The Rover Boys Graduation Day / I Hear Music ABC - Paramount
Tony Bennett Can you Find it In your Heart / Forget Her Columbia


I emailed the list to a website of "we buy 78s" and they said "OK we won't buy those" . Hmmm. I tried CraigsList too. You'd think *someone* would want them ...

OK my Craigslist entry expired without a single sale.

My next idea is to list them one by one and encourage people to buy them as "wall art". They are fairly cool wall decor. But as they'll only go for $1 each I'm putting that off until I get the other more expensive items sold. That way my energy is better spent on the higher-priced items for now.

I'll let you know how that project goes!

I just listed them on CraigsList again, as wall decor this time. I listed them at $2 each. I figure someone might try to haggle me down and this gives me some leeway. Hopefully someone will take them!