But when I was writing that post I had in the back of my head a guy in Oregon who I'd read about in a recent edition of Mojo magazine. Step forward John Tefteller. The Mojo piece was a news story under the headline "The rarest Beatles record ever?" (it detailed an ultra-rare copy of Sgt Pepper's that had come the way of John, where the sleeve had been doctored to show the faces of Capitol label execs, and was given to these men (as they all were) in Christmas 1967 as a thanks for making the album a success).
So who is this John guy? Well, he's a rare record collector, and is obviously the guy to call if you have any super-rare records to get off your hands.
His website is www.tefteller.com and as if to prove the point of how many leagues he is above my dithering over a $100 record that I really want, the current news story on his home page is about John winning an auction for a previously unknown Sun 45 by an Alabama blues singer called D.A.Hunt. John's winning bid was $10,323 and he thinks that price was, and I quote, "a steal". Man, that's pretty cool.
Mr. Tefteller also has an ebay page (pictured above), so if you're looking at splashing the cash on some fine blues, rock 'n' roll or early soul, it's well worth checking out. And they're not all big money sales either - there's plenty for under $20. I love the sound of this "folk psyche" record too, by a guy called Jake Holmes, but again, we're back in that $100 bracket. Damn my expensive tastes!
By the way, I emailed John about using an image of him in this post, and as much as you can tell from a single email, he seems like a top bloke (hell, he collects records - of course I'd like him). So keep up the good work John - I'll be checking in regularly looking to see if that Howlin' Wolf record turns up!
Photo from the collection of John Tefteller and Blues Images. www.tefteller.com
2 comments:
John is a great guy. We keep fighting over rare records. We recently accepted on consignment two of the rarest Beatle members items with the Paul McCartney Ram Acetate and the John Lennon Wedding Album Acetate. Both hidden from view for the last 40 years. We just put the Wedding album on Ebay for a $10,000 starting bid. Best of luck to you John. What a great find.
Awesome - I think what you guys do is fantastic, not just from a financial point of view (though as a record collector myself I'm very jealous of the ability you have to trade in such expensive stock), but more importantly in the great work you're doing for vinyl in general. I might be wrong but I don't believe there has ever been (or ever will be) a similar market in CDs (let alone MP3s!). Keep up the great work!
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