Sorry about the lack of Posts..

But it's been the holidays.. I'll get back to regular postings in the new year..
But.. to pass the time, what better than a "Holiday Rant" ;-)..
 As some of you may have noticed, I've also started to post covers from a net pal in Australia,
And I've noticed that there are a lot more copies of rare tapes  down under, than in the rest of the world..The warm weather, maybe?
However, they , almost to the man, charge 2 to 5 times as much as everybody else in the rest of the world asks for the same items. At first I thought it was just a few pricey vendors. but now I see it's everybody.
 The normal conclusion would be that that's because the market will bear it , but I've been checking "completed transactions", to see if they actually *sold* for these inflated prices, and, lo and behold, there are so few that it almost counts as none...
If nobody's parting with the cash at these prices, why do they persist in pricing that high? Is it because in the shops, that's what they go for?
  That's poor judgement, because that's the case everywhere, but you can get away with higer prices on the shop floor because of the ability to touch and examine the item, as well as the immediacy of the transaction.. after all, you can walk home with it..

 Secondly.. and here's a good example.. marking a tape as "Ultra Rare Cassette" would seem to be OK, if in fact it's *true*,  and for some it must surely be, as I found over 20 copies for sale on ebay of one particular issue , and they ALL said "ultra rare" .. so it MUST be true :-)
 But seriously..as i just showed, it's misused, or blatantly false..
The example of the website, given above, lists *EVERY SINGLE cassette* as "ultra rare", even, say, a bar coded Madonna one. Seriously..
Although i couldn't find the madonna example with aa light search, i found a "dukes of hazzard" soundtrack listed for 51$.. that's the kind of tape that they throw in the 99 cent barrel around here..
Lastly,, the whole "but it's got Paper Labels" as an excuse to overprice is ludicrous..
Here's the real facts about them..
Paper labels are an easy way for the unscrupulous to manufacture cassettes from scratch.. and except for a certain very few exceptions, send up red flags all over to me..they certainly dont *increase* a tapes value..
EXCEPT.. with very early Capitol/Apple and Decca/MCA/Polydor ones.
In these cases they help date the tapes.. Capitol/Apple used paper labels twice, white semi gloss ones originally from 1967 to approximately 1973, and matte yellow ones for a short period somewhere between 1976 to 1978.

Capitol and Decca circa 1968 and 1971, respectively:

Decca USA , and later on , MCA, also used them until about 1975.. There are isolated other examples, but the point of this is, they're not more valuable because they're *paper* but because they help date the tape earlier.. people that collect cassettes often aren't aware just how early the process of printing the titles directly on the casette shell started.. i've got examples of Capitol 'Special Markets" tapes from 1971 done that way:

The later (1977-78) Yellow labels:

Anyways, soon as things slow down,  I'll be posting more quality '60s cassette scans..
Happy New Yeah , y'all now..!
Doc

HISTORY IN THE MAKING!!!!!!!!!

(PS -- I've bumped this back by a year.. so that it's kind of "archived" It's actually dated 2012, not 2011)

This here is the RAREST Beatles cassette set.. this is SO rare that you will never again see another for sale in your lifetime.. (there's only, like.. what.. 6.. and NO sealed ANYWHERE... this is IT) in the WORLD.. and I am damn luck to have even been able to play a PART in the bidding..
There is no way I will win this. it will go well over 1000$  and I just don't have that tick..
but for a short time, I can say I was the highest bidder..
wow!

AND HERE"S THE PUNCH LINE!!!!
if you were to unseal this, you'd have 3 cassettes worth 150 Bucks each, and a really EXPENSIVE cardboard box!!!!!!
hyuk.............................

                          I was the first bidder, and held it for 5 days.. but then,.. the BIG BOYS started moving in (sigh).   Well, it was worth a shot.... just wait'll the last day of auction...when it tops well over 2 grand...   and it WILL. mark My words!!!!!! I mean, it's the cassette equivalent of the "Butcher Cover" Yesterday and Today... in fact, it's *rarer* than a First State Stereo Butcher Cover!!!!

More about THE BEATLES DELUXE 3-PACK USA CASSETTES BOX SET

Lately.. I have been apprehensive about this set.. Live all mega-collectibles, the location of all of them is KNOWN, yet this SEALED box appeared out of nowhere.. The store has NOT offered a Provenance, or suggested that one exists. Furthermore, this is NOT something one should buy sealed.. as in this case one needs to examine the contents, to assure the three tapes are still sealed.

Perhaps that's why the bidding hasn't gone as high as I would have expected.

I don't know if anyone ever had the nerve to try to "Fake" a box like this. I DO know that there are lirterally thousands of fake "Butcher covers" out there...

Hmmmm

ATM only 48 minutes left to go... currently 88o$

I do wish I could afford the box, after all, I *have* one of the three tapes that came in it. they DO differ ever so slightly from the rest of the issues, in that they have a glossy sleeve, as opposed to the normal matte print on all other Capitol cassettes

Just a thought..How would you even authenticate a box like this without access to another?


OK y'all Here's the closing total:  $1, 277.88 ! ...... for 3 cassettes.. wow!

Too rich for me ;-)

I seem to have lost my last two posts..

I clearly remember posting them..
I even have the cover pictures i posted..
Wonder what happened?