Longtime Blues Record Collector Pays Record Price For Rare Tommy Johnson 1930 Blues 78 Rpm Record
Grants
Pass, Oregon, Thursday, September 29th 2013:
Longtime
Blues record collector and expert John Tefteller was the winning bidder at
$37,100.00 for a super rare Blues 78 rpm record by Blues legend Tommy Johnson.
This is highest price ever paid for a single 78 rpm Blues record and one of the
highest prices ever paid for ANY record.
Bidding,
on internet auction site eBay, was hot and heavy for the record, and stood at
$16,800.OO until the final seconds when the price shot up to just over $37,000.00
The
record, Tommy Johnson on the Paramount label from 1930, is one of only two
known and verified copies. All other copies of this disc are presumed lost or
destroyed. The two songs on this record "Alcohol And Jake Blues" and
"Ridin' Horse" are considered masterpieces of the genre and Johnson
is one of the Top Five legendary figures in early recorded Blues music, right
along side Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Skip James and Son House.
Tefteller,
who has been collecting rare Blues records for over 40 years, already owns the
only other known copy and has released the songs previously on one of his
Classic Blues Artwork From The 1920's Calendar series...but this newly verified
record is in vastly better condition than the other one and Tefteller says he
"just had to have it." His original copy will be sold to help offset
the cost of this new one and he says he is "going to remaster and
re-release this new copy next year" for his 2015 Blues Calendar release.
The Blues Calendars come complete with a 20 to 24 track CD that is included
free with each Calendar.
Tefteller
picked up his eBay win in person in South Carolina last Thursday. "I am
happy to report to the record collecting world and admirers of great Delta
Blues music worldwide that this newly discovered copy is in Excellent condition
and will be able to be remastered to sound absolutely superb." The seller was a local Columbia, South
Carolina collector who found the record some years back at an estate sale.
Tefteller says "He absolutely did not realize what he had and how rare it
was until he put it on eBay. Within the first few hours of being listed on the
auction site another collector tried to stop the sale by offering the seller
$4,000.00 for the record. Fortunately, he let the auction proceed and I was
able to win it in the final moments."
Tommy
Johnson made a total of five records for the legendary Paramount label back in
1929 and 1930. He was a little known and very under appreciated singer/guitar
player from Crystal Springs, Mississippi at the time. His legend and stature
has grown tremendously over the years and his records, especially the
Paramount's, are "Holy Grails" for Blues collectors. Johnson also
recorded three records for the Victor label, which are desirable, but enough
copies have survived so that they will "only" sell for $1,000.00 to
$5,000.00 each. Johnson died in Mississipi in 1956.
This
was the first public sale of a Tommy Johnson Paramount 78 rpm record. Tefteller
says he was "blown away" when he saw it listed on eBay and knew that
he had to bid "very seriously" in order to acquire it. A total of 29
bids were placed during the auction with Tefteller's final bid being the
winner.
"I
can't wait to have it properly re-mastered and share it with the world"
say Tefteller, who resides in Grants Pass, Oregon and deals in rare Rock and
Roll and Rhythm and Blues 45's and 78's while maintaining what has been called
by those who have seen it as "the world's best collection of Blues records
and memorabilia" and "The British Museum Of The Blues."
Tefteller specializes in collecting the Paramount label, run out of a furniture
factory in Port Washington, Wisconsin from the early 1920's to the early
1930's. Historians recognize Paramount as the most innovative and creative independent
record label from that time and anything on the label is coveted by record
collectors worldwide.
