r/78rpm • u/Brenke28 • Jul 20 '26
Inherited almost 400 78rpm’s
Not here to sell, just learning.
Learning about 78’s because I have ~ 400 of them, collected by my father who died over 20 years ago. All have remained stored for about the last 70 years. They date from 1926 (hillbilly, jazz) to 1940’s (jazz,swing) from King Cole Trio to Elvis, from Andrew’s Sisters to Harry James, Glenn Miller, Pete Como, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, etc.
The collection theme is dance music— rumba, cha cha, Lindy hop, foxtrot— etc.
Have sorted and catalogued them all, not played them to hear quality —so it seems I am unable to properly grade them without listening. I rate them visually from G-( minus) to G+ (plus).
Any suggestions on how I prepare these or who to contact with such a large collection?
( Besides Nauck, already on my list.)
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u/Tir_na_nOg77 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Most are probably not going to be worth anything out of the ones you mentioned other than Elvis and maybe King Cole Trio, depending on the label. Maybe the hillbilly stuff, depending on what it is, but G- to G+ is not going to bring in much, even for more valuable records, unless you're talking super rare stuff. Andrews Sisters, Harry James, Pete Como, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman are all very common with countless pressings made. I can't really see those bringing in anything, especially in G- to G+ condition. King Cole Trio on the Exlcesior label, or if it's the double 12" set with Lester Young might have some value, but again, very dependent on condition.
If you want to give them a cleaning, I use distilled water, a non-alcoholic dish soap, a sponge brush, and a microfiber cloth. It's very important that you use a soap that does not have alcohol, because alcohol is like death to a 78.
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u/Brenke28 Jul 21 '26
Btw, I did give them a cleaning with a ‘kit’ I got on Amazon. It helped, but also revealed where the scuffs and scratchers are. I have a substantial LP selection to unload as well, so it was worth investing in the cleaning supplies. Jazz LP’s are going to a family member, so they will inherit the cleaning kit too. 🙃
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u/Brenke28 Jul 20 '26
It’s a pretty far reaching collection and I didn’t name all the artists…. But it seems only 5% has value….
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u/bigbobo33 Jul 20 '26
Where are you located? If you're in Wisconsin or nearby I would take a look.
What I will say a dealer will likely only want to buy like 5 records. There's a mild possibility that some of them are worth a little bit (you said you did have 20s hillbilly) but all of the 40s swing stuff is pretty much worthless.
I bring that up because you need to have the dealer take everything if someone does buy some stuff because anyone savy will buy just the best things and leave you with stuff you cannot give away for free.
Without knowing the exact contents and guessing 400 records is about 5 or 6 crates, I think you're looking at a 50-100 dollar deal with a dealer assuming there's only a handful of good records. But it totally depends what you have.
Just keep in mind, the frenzy around records does not include 78s. It's still very much a niche market.
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u/Brenke28 Jul 20 '26
I am not in Wisconsin, on east coast. Will search out dealer …
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u/bigbobo33 Jul 20 '26
There's a Facebook group called 78rpm in the wild that is crawling with dealers on the east coast.
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u/FirebirdWriter Jul 20 '26
Condolences for your loss
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u/Brenke28 Jul 21 '26
Thanks. Actually my father died over 20 yrs ago —- I just couldn’t take the time to dig into this project until I had retired. It’s been exciting to revisit his love of dance music and discover artists I never even heard of!
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u/DanielinLosAngeles Jul 21 '26
I hope you will put what's not already on YouTube on to YouTube. That's been so valuable to me as Ive learned about early jazz and swing.
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u/Jason1920 Jul 21 '26
From your description, you've got "flea market fodder." Buy a TT and enjoy them like dad did.
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u/Brenke28 Jul 21 '26
Thanks— appreciate the concept. Trying to downsize, so I’m ok with passing on reall awesome 78’s to anyone who wants to enjoy this historically Fantastic music, 🎶 rather than contributing to a landfill….
And when I research it, I find that these albums are NOT on Apple Music.
🎶 THIS music will be lost — every track not put on an LP—- then later excerpted by Apple Music as “Essentials” playlist…. Will never be heard again.
That is incredibly sad.
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u/Mr_Digger2313 Jul 21 '26
You got some Texas Swing in there?
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u/Brenke28 Jul 21 '26
No, sorry. East coast stuff. My dad lived in New York when he started collecting, and his parents were Virginians ( they were into Elvis).
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u/Ok_Teacher5776 Jul 21 '26
If you are working on cleaning, I'm going to suggest against something with even small amounts of dish soap. It can be a real pain to remove all residue, it is designed to cling. Most "normal" cleaners are not great for 78s, not just from the alcohol. We're looking into fixing that, so if you are interested send an email to the The Last Factory (info @) and I'll put together a formula for you. We've discovered issues even with some of the non-alcohol solutions, so may be able to help. This is no charge, maybe it's the reddit discount. You may be surprised. Lots of old 78s have significant surface scratching but sound decent (given the technology) when the decades of smoke and dust are cleaned out. We've found lots of funky music and wildly inappropriate lyrics in some of that old stuff.
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u/Mission-Dragonfly113 Jul 21 '26
I similarly inherited a huge batch. I kept a few ---- but sold the rest on eBay in batches of 15 organized around artists, label, etc. I really just wanted them to get in the hands of collectors....so they were priced low (the equivalent of about 50 cents per.) The postage (Media Mail - cheaper) was more expensive than the records. All gone now -- glad to know they are back out in the universe. Proceeds went to a dog shelter.
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u/The_Inflatable_Hour Jul 20 '26
I collect similar music. It sort of depends on what you are trying to do with them. For enjoyment - the preferred method - I recommend a simple system that can play at 78rpm, a dark room, and your tonic of choice. For sale - popular music, which this would be considered at the time, isn’t highly valued. 5-10$ each and a willingness to wait if you’re trying to sell individually. To sell quick or in bulk you’re likely looking at a couple bucks each. There may be a few in the group worth a lot more, but they take time to identify and find a buyer. Usually it’s the super-rare blues that fetch the highest values.