I’ve inherited my dad’s record collection. There’s nothing sentimental about it. He had an antique store. Among the many items in the store is a HUGE record collection. I would estimate it between 15-20K records, maybe more. I helped him inventory it several years ago, so I have an idea what’s there.
There are records from every genre of music and practically any artist you can name. The dates go back the the very early days when records were one sided 78’s and end in the 70’s. There are 78’s , 33 1/3 and 45’s too.
I’ve thought about trying to list them on a webpage and sell them that way but that would be absolutely exhausting (there is no inventory list). By the time I got done it’d be time to update it again. I don’t suppose anyone here knows a better way to handle this. I could damned near open up a record store. Any collectors out there with advice?
I assume you want to sell the records. The easiest way to do this is to consign them with or sell them to a record auctioneer. If you tried to sell them yourself you would have to deal with grading, packing, shipping, etc. It’s a lot of work and requires specialized knowledge.
For the 78s you could contact Nauck’s Vintage Records. Kurt Nauck runs one of the biggest auction houses for 78s, and he handles all types of material (many auctioneers specialize in jazz or blues).
Whether you can make any money from selling these records depends almost entirely on what they are and what kind of condition they’re in. If there are a lot of records by known artists, you may have something. All of the records by 101 Strings or Frank Chacksfield Orchestra are worthless. If there are big band records, or early pop/rock/R&B records, this collection will attract the attention of any knowledgeable record dealer. I second Jeff’s suggestion, that you look into a record auctioneer.
Do I want to sell them? Of course, they’re simply part of the store’s inventory. He’d been buying and selling them for years.
I’d say at least a third of them are from the 50’s and early 60’s mostly rock and mostly popular artists. Dad bought out a disc jockey’s collection several years ago and they were what he collected during his heyday as a R&R DJ back in the day.
Also included is a stack of Beatles of at least 50 records. Most are in mint condition.
I’m serious, you probably can’t name a pop artist that isn’t there. He had some original SUN label Elvis at one time. I haven’t checked it out lately so who knows.
Make no mistake I realize a lot of them will be practically worthless but there are probably hundreds that are rare and valuable. The bulk of this collection may only be in the $2 to $10 range but that adds up. Especially with 15K+ records.
I didn’t know John Wayne made a record, did you? He definitely would never have made it as a singing cowboy.
One of the last things he and I talked about was me not letting mom give away the collection. He said it was worth a lot of money and that mom could definitely use it. I agree, she is retiring this year (probably) and that would make a nice nest egg.
I’ll figure it out somehow. At least they are alphabetized, somewhat. Many are priced but are way out of date. I’ll probably stop what I’m doing and reopen the store soon and just start listing what’s there. Gotta start somewhere.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.
