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Classical Finds at Local Library


garymd

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The library near my office has a book/record sale in their basement year round (donations, retired books, etc.) and about once a month I spend about an hour or so at lunch going through the record section and usually come out with 6-10 albums in near mint to mint condition for 50 cents each. Today I was there and noticed a seperate classical section I hadn't seen before. Now I'm not a huge classical music fan but every once in a while its nice music to unwind with and play for others (such as my father). I made some incredible finds today. There were about 4 shelves worth of different collections (Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, etc.). I started looking through some of these and I swear to you, even though they must be 50 years old, I think I'm the first to ever pull one out of the jacket (nice plasic lined jackets too). Some had books with them and other items but all looked 100% preserved and unplayed - not 1 fingerprint even. I ended up leaving with about 40 albums in all (most were about 6-7 per collection) for just over $6. I would have bought more but my wife already calls me a packrat. Maybe next week.

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Great deal!!! They call this stuff classical because it has stood the test of time. The great composers will still be great in another 200 years. But look at all the #1 bands who sold millions of records in the '70s and '80s that nobody will even bid on now.

I've gotten to the point where I won't consider buying an album, even at 50 cents, unless it looks pretty much mint. Why buy them with scratches and dirt when there are thousands of excellent ones around.

A buddy of mine bought every record at a library sale several years back, about 5 feet worth, and I think they were only a dime or so each. Mind boggling really.

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I go to a local church thrift near where I work, and all of the LP's are10 cents each. You have to be persistent, but I have gotten mint RCA shaded dogs, Mercury Living Presence, etc.

You cannot beat library sales and church thrifts for good vinyl at great prices.

Regards,

Greg

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My 75 mint albums turned into about 100 today. I found 8 factory sealed Funk & Wagnall's Family Library of Great Music. Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Strauss, Wagner, Dvorak, Mendelssohn and Brahms. I don't know whether to open them or not but I'm sure they can't be worth anything so I probably will. I also found a set of RCA Victor "red seal" collector's issue 45s of Caruso. 1 looks mint the others near mint. I'm sure they'll sound bad but they're cool looking red 45s. The Mills Brothers - The Mellow Years sealed (about 4-5 albums) and worst of all (by far) - Dialogues On Democracy, Volume III, The Supreme Court In American Life (sealed of course). That's not even music!! Am I going crazy? For 50 cents I can always donate them back. LOL

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I'm in the same boat Greg. 2 months ago I had about 200. Right now I have close to 1,000 thanks to a friend who gave me his entire collection (about 400). He has downloaded about 10,000 songs on MP3 and says he will never listen to an album again. I have most hidden in the basement where my wife never goes. She'll flip when she stumbles across them one day. Not a good flip either.

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  • 1 month later...

Now the library folks know me pretty well and call me when new shipments come in.

Yesterday I got a call from them as a record store went out of business and donated about 15,000 lps to the library. They have no idea what to do with them.

I went there and unfortunately the 20 or so boxes they were opening were all soul (except 1 unopened "Alabama" lp - go figure). This made sense when I found out what area the record store was located.

I did pick up a few dozen (many sealed) and they had 3 boxes of promo only lps, all mint. Some good finds though. Lots of old (young) Michael Jackson (still with the big afro and original face), 4 Topps, Temptations, Aretha, Marvin, Supremes, etc.

They apologized for having me come all the way there for only soul lps so they charged me $5 for everything I took and promised to call me when they found the rock/jazz/or anything else. Not too bad though. I'm looking forward to the next call. They like me because I'm not in it for the money. Lots of people go there to resell on ebay.

Any soul/funkadelic fans out there? I can probably get you bulk pricing really, really cheap but you have to come to MD for pickup. I'm not holding these for anyone but can probably arrange for them to hold for a short time.

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