Insane Ebay Auctions (OLD'n'locked)

[doomedplanet]

The reality of it is even though this copy is not that nice (I sure would not want to own it), the likely-hood of this showing up for sale 'often' is quite low, though the ones in collectors hands might loosen up if the owners decide to sell theirs when they need the money..

In the current environment of paying $3k for water damaged copies of Militia, what chance does a regular person have of ever owning one?

[sovdat]

How many times have you seen that Militia 12" for sale in the past? And for how much did it go?

[OmenOfSteel]

And can the collecting community really support these kinds of prices for very long? Now the next seller to come along is gonna want the same amount for his copy (or more if it's in better condition) but how many collectors are willing and able to pay $3,000+ for a copy of this record? Unless a steady stream of collectors willing to pay these outrageous prices can be maintained over the long term, the values for these records will eventually crash; you'll have sellers demanding the astronomical prices, but you simply won't have any more collectors who can and will pay those prices, so the sellers will have to start asking lower and lower prices if they want to actually sell their wares.

I think the opposite will be true. For really rare and good stuff prices will always go up as long as there is a market, and there always will be HM collectors just like there are collectors for any other style of music.
My guess is in 10 - 15 years we will have prices just as the 70ies collectors have today.

[humus]

I don't agree with that. Prices in any market eventually fall. It's simply the question if we have already reached the top-prices or if they will rise even more before they come down again. It's pretty sick that metal records form a 'market' but that's just the way it is...
Atleast it's not as ridiculous as those old punk diy anti-capitalism singles that sell for >$1000

[tomas]

@ OmenOfSteel:
In some cases, metal collecting has already reached the level of '60s/70s/psych/prog collecting'.
I think one of the most expensive garage/psych singles is Johnny English III & The Heathens - I Need You Near. It costs about $7600, and it's twice the age of the Militia single. So in a way, we're very close to a really snobbish elite collecting market.

[texasmetalunderground]

How many times have you seen that Militia 12" for sale in the past? And for how much did it go?

I have seen several bought and sold locally over the past year. They usually sell in the $1000 range.

I think you should tell those guys to re-release this stuff. $3000+ for a water damaged EP is total madness.

At one time they had a deal with Monster Records (now Rockadrome) for a re-release but that was 3-4 years ago. I don't think the band even knows whats going on with that deal anymore.

And I agree with OmenOfSteel, there is obviously a high-end market for a record of this rarity. Look at how many bid on this totally trashed copy. I can't wait to see what happens when a mint condition copy comes up for sale. Are we going to see it hit $5K? Fucking insane!!

[sovdat]

I guess that fact that it was sold and signed by original member had a lot to do with final price.

[texasmetalunderground]

You may be right, sovdat. I guess a signature was worth an extra $1500 to the high bidder!

[Glockose]

And I agree with OmenOfSteel, there is obviously a high-end market for a record of this rarity. Look at how many bid on this totally trashed copy. I can't wait to see what happens when a mint condition copy comes up for sale. Are we going to see it hit $5K? Fucking insane!!

This has already happened!

There have been quite a few Heavy Metal/Hard Rock records to sell in the $1000+ range in the past 2-3 years. I see no problem with this. And no real end.

[nightsblood]

Look at that bid history closer. There were only 6 bidders. Of those 6, 2 bid less that $1,000, another bid about $2,000. So in reality there were only 3 people willing to pay more than $2,000 for the record (all three bid $2,900-3000). Now that one of these Top 3 bidders has won a copy, that leaves only 2 people who saw the auction that are apparently willing to pay $3k for a copy in this condition.
That's a very small pool of 'nig money bidders'.

One other thing to keep in mind regarding the price level of rare records is the posibility of unsold batches turning up. I don't know the history of the Militia album, but imagine if someone suddenly found 50-100 copies of it? Price Crash. This has happened to a few records in the past. The AKILLA albums used to be very collectible until a dealer turned up a ton of copies, and all of a sudden they were all over the place for $8 each. Same for the FIRECLOWN EP; in the early-mid 90s it would sell for well over $100; then someone found a batch and now they can be bought for $20.

Obviously this won't happen for some albums, such as the paradoxx EP or the Avatar EP on yellow vinyl, because it's been well-established that the print runs were tiny and/or all the surplus copies are confirmed as destroyed.

I am surprised that some rare albums that have been reissued on cd have actually gone up in price; I'd have expected things like SALEMS WYCH and SAN ANTONIO SLAYER to come down in price some once they were available on CD, but that hasn't been the case at all.

[hload]

You may be right, sovdat. I guess a signature was worth an extra $1500 to the high bidder!

where's the texan steele from corpus christi you once promised?

[MassOfKthulu]

militia has a print run of 100,so multiple copies turning up is impossible
as for prices-NO they ll never go down.i feel lucky to have started collecting records in 1999-i own most of the classic rarities by now and i never spent too much-thats impossible to do now.Back then traders like OPM,Pangallo,Swanson,Svanhill,Mueller,whoever,u kno the big names back then,dug up stocks of bands and sold them for normal prices.i remember leather nunn $100 on an ancient OPM/glockose list.solar eagle was sold for years at 150 dollars a piece.Salems wych also for $100,that was afew years too.we all traded for these,got em,and who of us is gonna sell em?
they are all rooted in collections,copies disappeared,bands ran out of copies,demands continues,ebay-booom! thats it.its never going down.

[texasmetalunderground]

Look at that bid history closer. There were only 6 bidders. Of those 6, 2 bid less that $1,000, another bid about $2,000. So in reality there were only 3 people willing to pay more than $2,000 for the record (all three bid $2,900-3000). Now that one of these Top 3 bidders has won a copy, that leaves only 2 people who saw the auction that are apparently willing to pay $3k for a copy in this condition.
That's a very small pool of 'nig money bidders'.

That's true, I'm sure the condition did cause a lot of the big spenders to walk away. The fact that 3 people were willing to spend $2,900+ on a trashed cover 3-song EP is still a little surprising.

I see no problem with this. And no real end.

100% agreed

[nightsblood]

OK, with a print run of 100, then yeah, Militia won't show up in large quantities.

I too remember the days of $75 Salems Wyches and Solar Eagles, I was just too broke to buy many of them back then. Buy records, or pay my tuition bill and put gas in my truck? Rare nwobhm singles don't sound so good if you spend all your money on them and then can't pay the electric bill :lol

I disagree that the phenomena will continue indefinitely. All hobbies go through cycles; metal vinyl is currently in a Boom period. 20 years ago baseball cards were red-hot, and now you can't give them away, even if they're rare and in mint condition. Same for comic books; issues that used to sell for $400 10-15 years ago will barely bring $50 now.

And while some collectors will keep their prized items forever, others will eventually decide to sell if they need money for other things. I've known plenty of metalheads who swore they'd never sell a single LP only to ditch most of their collection when they decided to buy a house, start a family, or run into debt becuase of something like medical bills.

Right now is a good time to be a seller

[caminantenocturno]

And can the collecting community really support these kinds of prices for very long? Now the next seller to come along is gonna want the same amount for his copy (or more if it's in better condition) but how many collectors are willing and able to pay $3,000+ for a copy of this record? Unless a steady stream of collectors willing to pay these outrageous prices can be maintained over the long term, the values for these records will eventually crash; you'll have sellers demanding the astronomical prices, but you simply won't have any more collectors who can and will pay those prices, so the sellers will have to start asking lower and lower prices if they want to actually sell their wares.

I think the opposite will be true. For really rare and good stuff prices will always go up as long as there is a market, and there always will be HM collectors just like there are collectors for any other style of music.
My guess is in 10 - 15 years we will have prices just as the 70ies collectors have today.

That's really hard to guess ... A friend of mine (suprisingly a girl) is very much into german 70s progressive ("Kraut") rock ... back then, nobody wanted the LPs, now much of them are very sought of, and prices of $ 3,000 are paid by die-hard-collectors ... probably the market for NWOBHM has reached his peak (actually prices have gone down compared to before) and won't move too much in future ... still everything depends of certain "underground-trends" among collectors ...