"RARE Bob Dylan"

The Original Article:

Subject: RARE Bob Dylan
Date: 18 Feb 1997 17:43:07 GMT
From: kevin (Sound Exchange Posse)
Newsgroups: rec.music.marketplace.vinyl

Boy are we excited.
just yesterday a woman with a small and otherwise
unpromising looking box of records
walked in and sold us a few items.
Among them was a mono copy of "The Freewheelin'
Bob Dylan".
I bought it of course thinking it to be
one of the ordinary pressings. Maybe worth
$25 - $30 bucks.
Boy - was i wrong.
It turned out to be "The One", that is a first
pressing mono copy WITH THE FOUR DELETED TRACKS!!!

Dial up our web site to see it

http://www.soundexchange.com/vinyl/lp/AthruF/d/dylan/dylan.html 
[This link is no longer active-Ed.]

or if you've got
$8000.00
you'd like to spend on a record
feel free to give us a yell at  1-800-445-0500

sound exchange (houston, tx.) over and out

--
Sound Exchange Posse   |Collectible LP's & 7" Sold| "Where customer
kevin@soundexchange.com|Hats Blocked While U Wait | service is just a
www.soundexchange.com  |    1-Hour Martinizing    | couple of words!"

Response Number 1:

I'm sure the woman who sold it to you would be very pleased to hear
of your good fortune.

Response Number 2:

kevin@soundexchange.com (Sound Exchange Posse) wrote:

> Boy are we excited.

We're happy for you.


> Among them was a mono copy of "The Freewheelin'
> Bob Dylan".
> I bought it of course thinking it to be
> one of the ordinary pressings. Maybe worth
> $25 - $30 bucks.

Hmm...pretty ubiquitous in mono or stereo.  Must not get many copies
in Houston.

> Boy - was i wrong.
> It turned out to be "The One", that is a first
> pressing mono copy WITH THE FOUR DELETED TRACKS!!!

> or if you've got
> $8000.00
> you'd like to spend on a record
> feel free to give us a yell

The very best of luck in getting your asking price!

Response Number 3:

Yeah.  I wonder if the Houston newspapers would be interested in
knowing about a record store that just ripped off a woman for $8000.

Mark London
MRL@PSFC.MIT.EDU

Response Number 4:

kevin@soundexchange.com says...

> "Where customer
> service is just a
> couple of words!"

Anyone care to venture what those words might be?

In Defense Of Kevin + Other Issues

---------------------------------------------------------------
On 12/20/52 Billboard magazine reviewed Chance 1127,
Dr. Jo Jo Adams-----"I've Got A Crazy Baby", rating it at a 74.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Most people responding to this and making comments aren't taking into
account the whole picture.

First off.  How many of you have had the rare version of this?  Raise
your hands.  Now everybody don't raise your hands at once.  Gee it is
truly a rarity.  Do you automatically assume that every copy of this
that you see is that one biggie?.  Of course not, at least I don't.

Kevin says that he thought that this was just one of those normal
everyday versions and then he got around to playing it later and found
out that, oops, it's the biggie.

To me fraud would have been knowing it was the biggie at the time of
purchase.  Only the real Dylan experts know that the size of one of
the tracks on the rare album is a little larger than the normal one.
I was shown this once, but have forgotten.  I haven't the faintest
idea which track to look for.  I'd have to play the record to find out
which version I had.

Had it been a bunch of 45s with a nice shape Elvis Sun, then morally
he would be obligated to pay a hefty premium.  Because he would have
known right away.

I think it was wrong coming into the group and telling the story and
then mentioning such a hefty price upfront.  A lot of people get
offended at someone paying a buck for something and then turning
around to try and sell it for thousands even hundreds and it makes it
look like gouging.  I think that no price should have been quoted, just
something like see it at our web page would have been better.  I was
just talking about this to Steve Propes and he agrees that it has the
whole connotation of rubbing it in.

Here's something else that I found.  Being really honest sometimes
doesn't work.  Let's say Kevin knew what this was and he decided to be
nice and offer a grand for it.  There's a good chance that she would
have changed her mind about the whole thing.

Without having a reasonable expectation about the records being a
goldmine, she wasn't expecting some huge price.  But if she came in
with lots of rare stuff and said take care of me, then that's
different.

I have been in a local shop here in San Diego a few times where a good
price was offered for a few items and the seller said that he had no
idea his records were worth so much and then decided not to sell them.

Here's a reverse situation.  I was in the same store several months
ago and the owner had a copy of "Positively 4th Street" in the recent
purchased 45s bin for $5.  It was VG+.  I needed a nice copy so I
pulled it out and was about to buy it when the owner said "Let's see
if this could be the rare one".  He played it and my $5 record
suddenly was priced at $35.  I know the owner and he gave me a great
deal (he probably could have gotten $100 for it).  The question is,
did he owe me the courtesy of still selling to me for $5?  Had I been
in the store a few hours earlier, when his help was the only one
there, I would have gotten it for $5.

So, in closing.  I don't think he defrauded the woman, but I do think
he shouldn't have come in bragging so much about how little he paid
and then how much he wanted.

_________________________________
Norm Katuna
------------------
Johnny Carroll      Wild wild women              Decca 29941
Johnny Carroll      Hot rock                      Decca 30013
Ric Cartey    Born to love one woman   RCA 6920

"Oh, Mama! Could This Really Be The End?"

Norm Katuna wrote:

> I think [Kevin] was wrong coming into the group and telling the story
> and then mentioning such a hefty price upfront.  A lot of people get
> offended at someone paying a buck for something and then turning
> around to try and sell it for thousands even hundreds and it makes it
> look like gouging.

Well, if nothing else, perhaps we can agree that Kevin was guilty of
bragging a little too loudly. However, imagine the favorable publicity
he would have gotten if he had gone back to the seller and offered
to give her a cut of the final sale. A good deed like this might have
attracted more collectors and collectables.

> I was in [a] store several months ago and the owner had a copy of
> "Positively 4th Street" in the recent purchased 45s bin for $5...
> I pulled it out and was about to buy it when the owner said "Let's see
> if this could be the rare one".  He played it and my $5 record
> suddenly was priced at $35... The question is,
> did he owe me the courtesy of still selling to me for $5?...

Absolutely! You were clearly cheated. It was sitting in the bin
and the owner had plenty of time to evaluate it and decide on a price.
Once it was in your hand and you brought it to the register, he was
obligated to sell it to you as marked.

-JL

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