Forthcoming Motown Collection Auction in the UK

**fatmaninthethirdrow** · 02-03-2017, 04:10 PM

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...ize=240&page=3

from about lot 566 through to the end - 400 lots later inc lots of delicious acetates, an Anna 78 and many rare 45's.

**theboyfromxtown** · 02-03-2017, 05:07 PM

wow...there's a lot there.

**gordy_hunk** · 02-03-2017, 05:09 PM

and the estimated prices.... The Andantes single ... £1500-£2000 ... !

**superlou** · 02-03-2017, 08:44 PM

Makes me grateful for the TCMS series.

**lester** · 02-05-2017, 09:28 AM

I'm slowly listing my collection for sale on Discogs. Have done the 7'' singles, EPs, 12'' singles and I am currently on "Ls" in the alphabetical albums. Some of the stuff I am having to "digitalise" as there has been no CD or digital release as yet. It's taking me ages but it's great fun

**mysterysinger** · 02-05-2017, 09:38 AM

Some interesting items there for sure. Many of the guide prices seem low - obviously designed to attract potential bidders.

**DWSheffer** · 02-05-2017, 11:18 AM

Can someone help explain to me the circumstances of lot 818, the Stevie Wonder Tamla 54108? I would assume the A side was changed to "Kiss Me Baby" and released as Tamla 54114. The Goldmine guides list the single as unreleased, as does the auction listing obviously.

Am I to assume that this, like a few other titles I am aware of, were pressed and then supposedly all destroyed, yet a few copies survived? Must be Motown was testing Stevie's releases somewhat, as the subsequent single Tamla 54119 had 2 different B side releases.

As mysterysinger mentioned above, estimates seem low to me, but that's the auction house's "reel 'em in" tactic, hoping to attract more bidders. There are certainly several records I would love to own in this auction, but being non-US I wouldn't trust shipping and I hate buyer's premiums! Thanks for any enlightenment on this record.
Darin

**fatmaninthethirdrow** · 02-09-2017, 09:29 AM

Just noticed that there are a couple of other Motown items in the same sale...

Lot 374 includes albums by Chris Clark on Weed, Willie Tyler & Lester, Gordon Staples plus HDH product from Ruth Copeland and Warlock. That latter has one blindingly good HDH track on it. And the lot also includes the Sterling Ball album which is quite hard to find in itself.

Lot 484 has various Workshop Jazz albums and the Jonah Jones releases

**motownjohnny** · 02-09-2017, 11:07 AM

Fatmaninthethirdrow, I will start by admitting my experience of auctions is very limited. However, I would have thought that most serious collectors are generally looking to complete their collections and therefore seeking individual items to fill in a gap rather than looking for sets or groups of items. So, if I'm right on that then for that reason many of these lots such as those you mention may fail to achieve as much interest as the seller might be hoping for.

Many of the lots on offer such as the group of Divinity releases and indeed the Workshop Jazz Album group you mention will I think fail to achieve a high selling figure for that reason.

With regard to the estimates being seemingly on the low side, I think it needs to be borne in mind that for many of the items on offer, the grading is in the range of Fair to Very good with a smaller number being graded at Excellent. If I remember correctly there are no items or lots ranked higher. Most book valuations are based on M- / Near mint so the fact that these lots are in many cases well below those levels then the estimates to me at least seem appropriate to the condition.

I have both Mint copies of the Chris Clark album "CC Rides Again" and the Willie Tyler Tamla release and I can honestly say they, in terms of content at least, are probably two of the worst to have been issued by the company! As a reflection of this neither of them when advertised on Ebay command a high asking price - around $US 30. As ever it all comes down to personal taste, but there again neither of these albums broke any sales records!

Of course, as I said at the start of this posting, my experience of auctions is limited so I could well be proved wrong - we shall see!

**mysterysinger** · 02-09-2017, 01:33 PM

Good points though MJ.

**mysterysinger** · 02-09-2017, 01:41 PM

How about your very own Lester?https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Outlet/Le...s=willie+tyler

**theboyfromxtown** · 02-12-2017, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by motownjohnny

Fatmaninthethirdrow, I will start by admitting my experience of auctions is very limited. However, I would have thought that most serious collectors are generally looking to complete their collections and therefore seeking individual items to fill in a gap rather than looking for sets or groups of items. So, if I'm right on that then for that reason many of these lots such as those you mention may fail to achieve as much interest as the seller might be hoping for.

Many of the lots on offer such as the group of Divinity releases and indeed the Workshop Jazz Album group you mention will I think fail to achieve a high selling figure for that reason.

With regard to the estimates being seemingly on the low side, I think it needs to be borne in mind that for many of the items on offer, the grading is in the range of Fair to Very good with a smaller number being graded at Excellent. If I remember correctly there are no items or lots ranked higher. Most book valuations are based on M- / Near mint so the fact that these lots are in many cases well below those levels then the estimates to me at least seem appropriate to the condition.

I have both Mint copies of the Chris Clark album "CC Rides Again" and the Willie Tyler Tamla release and I can honestly say they, in terms of content at least, are probably two of the worst to have been issued by the company! As a reflection of this neither of them when advertised on Ebay command a high asking price - around $US 30. As ever it all comes down to personal taste, but there again neither of these albums broke any sales records!

Of course, as I said at the start of this posting, my experience of auctions is limited so I could well be proved wrong - we shall see!

All valid points. I also think that many of the older collectors [[like me) are thinking to themselves...since I've not had it for over 40 years, will another few make much difference!

However, there are a lot of younger up and coming collectors about. Take SDF for example, I'm plesantly surprised that there many members who were not born when Diana left the Supremes and even some who weren't born when the Supremes were officially disbanded.

**motownjohnny** · 02-28-2017, 01:15 PM

For anyone who might be interested in how much these lots actually sold for at the recent auction in the U.K., I've managed to find the actual selling figures. The link is attached below :

http://www.specialauctionservices.co...7/page012.html

It's as I expected, many were sold for well under or at the bottom end of their estimates. There are some surprises though. The selling figures are listed on the far right.

**mysterysinger** · 02-28-2017, 03:32 PM

Yikes, Andantes for £2,500. I don't even like it.

**Tamla Junkie** · 03-01-2017, 10:56 AM

With an 18% premium for online bidders, I'm not surprised many of lots went for peanuts. There were a couple of singles I would have liked to help round out my copies of the '59 and '60 stuff, but the shipping back to Detroit plus the buyer's premium were enough to make me sit it out. Aside from that, the singles I found most interesting looked pretty rough...

**gordy_hunk** · 03-01-2017, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by Tamla Junkie

With an 18% premium for online bidders, I'm not surprised many of lots went for peanuts. There were a couple of singles I would have liked to help round out my copies of the '59 and '60 stuff, but the shipping back to Detroit plus the buyer's premium were enough to make me sit it out. Aside from that, the singles I found most interesting looked pretty rough...

I was trying to find out what the fees are for the seller - but couldn't find them. I don't have any of the more unusual / rare singles or LP, but I think I'll contact them to see when [[and how) I should auction my [[almost) entire Motown collection [[about 200 singles, and 400-500 LP - mostly in very good condition).

**Tamla Junkie** · 03-01-2017, 07:30 PM

It's hard to say. Some singles seem to be dropping in value [[I overpaid for my copy of Camel Walk by Saundra Mallet for instance), but others are commanding heathier prices than ever before [[Bad Girl, Let's Rock). On the whole, the market feels soft to me. About 60%-80% of my excess stuff would wind up going to a British buyer in the past. Now, post-Brexit, I'm averaging less than 30% of total sales to the UK. Prices in the US have remained healthy though.

**wilxy** · 03-04-2017, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by motownjohnny

For anyone who might be interested in how much these lots actually sold for at the recent auction in the U.K., I've managed to find the actual selling figures. The link is attached below :

http://www.specialauctionservices.co...7/page012.html

It's as I expected, many were sold for well under or at the bottom end of their estimates. There are some surprises though. The selling figures are listed on the far right.

Several very nice items within that lot!