So when you're a collector you find yourself doing sad/exciting things. Things like trawling eBay to see what's selling. This can happen at anytime of the day or night and now in this day and age of smartphones, anywhere as well.
All it is really is a form of digital window shopping. A way of playing "imagine if" or "pretend to spend a grand in 30 minutes" without having to leave your couch. When I'm trawling I'm looking to see whats out there. Looking to see whats newly listed. Looking to see if stuff I want is still waiting for me to save enough money, or seeing if items I already have are fetching a good price online (you know....if hell freezes over and well you never know, I might be called upon to sell off some stuff to help Satan defrost the lake of fire.)
So its a bit of windowshopping and a bit of stock forecasting and a bit of fun to get a good look at the collectors scene as a whole. Also did I mention I might be a little obsessed?
So it was during one of these 3am eBay digs that I started to see a lot of good titles up for sale and not the usual stuff you see either. Really good stuff. Really rare stuff. Usually really expensive stuff. And they were all starting bids of $9.99. With $20 postage mind you but as I've been finding out not that far off the mark when ordering stuff overseas. Dropping $30 on one of these items seemed like a fair cop considering the rarities of these titles. I really wasn't that flush with cash but i placed a few in my "Watch List" and waited to see what happened.
The items all sold really well. About 60 in total. A phenomenal catalogue of titles. Then an amazing thing happened. These same items went up for auction again. Like new ones!! Almost the exact same collection but now with even more amazing things which I never believed I would see.
So i decided I would look up the sellers name and see what else he had on offer. His eBay name was Peaver1. When I clicked on the link for Seller's Items I was astounded. Another 60 titles. All for auction and all starting bids were $9.99. This was incredible. I mean copies of Inseminoid turn up on eBay every once in a while but two in two weeks? From the same seller? This was amazing. I started to speculate about who this Peaver1 was. Was he another collector? Did he own a shop? Did he work at Varese Sarabande? Did he have a magical fountain of records out the back of his house? What on earth was his story?
The second round of records sold really well. Nearly all this time, and some of the really rare ones sold for really great prices. The idea of the bidding price being so low really created a whirlwind of interest among collectors and although many of the rarer items sold for a song they still cost a pretty penny.
But then, a third round went on sale!! Another 60 or more titles and again they were lot of the same ones. My curiosity was totally freaking peaked. Was this a hoax? Could this be real? I've heard of collectors who keep doubles of their items but triples?? This was insane. I had to know more. If I wasn't in a position to splash some money on these items maybe I could find out more about the person selling them?
So I contacted him through eBay and asked if he would agree to a quick interview. Turns out he was more than happy to help and so I drew up a few quick questions and sent them off and here goes....
Name: Peaver1
Age:66
Location Longbeach, California
How big is your collection and do you collect from any specific genre (i.e. soundtracks) or do you collect other kinds?
My collection is over twenty thousand records. I collect movie soundtracks & TV related lps & 45's w/ picture sleeves; I also collect rock, jazz & soul. I have one of the most complete "TV related" record collections on the west coast.
How long have you been collecting?
I've been collecting since the 1960's.
Do you collect for love or money or both? (by this I mean do you own and run a record store? Or do you just sell records on ebay? Is it business or a hobby or both?)
I collect for the enjoyment of collecting. I sell on ebay, but primarily, I'm always looking to add to my collection.
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What's your most favourite record?
The soundtrack from the film "The Caine Mutiny".
What's the most valuable record you own?
The Caine Mutiny is valued at about $6,000.00.*
What's your holy grail? What record(s) have you been looking everywhere for but still elude you?
I'm looking for a movie soundtrack from the 1960's called "Pillow Talk"; It was only given out as a promotional gift at early screenings of the film in the early 1960's. It's jacket is shaped like a sofa pillow. It's a very hard one to find, especially in good condition, because the shape of the jacket caused it to become easily damaged.
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| Photo courtesy of collectorfrenzy.com |
Throughout your collecting career have you lately noticed an increase on prices for collectible items now that Vinyl is apparently on the comeback?
I believe there is definitely more interest in vinyl today than in the past decade. A new generation has discovered the joy and thrill of listening to and finding collectible records to add to their collections.
So there you go, my first interview with another collector. I hope you guys enjoyed it. So far I've watched some 200 records be sold through Peaver1's eBay shop and more keep coming. They're not to everybody's taste but if you're a Horror Movie Soundtrack Collecting Boffin like myself its truly a wonderful selection of items. I'd love to see the stuff he actually keeps.
*The Cainer Mutiny is a legendary LP. Perhaps the most expensive soundtrack in history to date. Here is the Wikipedia entry about why....
"The original soundtrack album for The Caine Mutiny was never actually officially released, and hence it is one of the rarest in existence; perhaps a dozen copies survive. RCA Records planned an LP release with musical excerpts on the first side and the complete dialogue of the climactic court-martial scene on side two. But Herman Wouk felt that including this scene was an infringement on his recently opened Broadway play dealing with the court-martial, and he threatened to prohibit Columbia Pictures from making any further adaptations of his work. According to Wouk, "[Columbia head Harry] Cohn looked into the matter, called me back, and said in his tough gravelly voice, 'I've got you beat on the legalities, but I've listened to the record and it's no goddamn good, so I'm yanking it.'"[11] In October 2012 a copy sold on eBay for over $6,000. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321002330371?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649"
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