As a  GK fan, I’m also a collector of his memorabilia, especially his records. And one place I were I buy most of my records, due to convenience and availability, is eBay. Now, I’m not sure if this is due to the ever increasing seller fees eBay continues to impose on sellers or what, but the exorbitant prices that some people are charging for his records on eBay these days are just insane.

Let’s examine his 78rpm records for example; I would suspect there is less and less demand for these records every day. In addition, most commercial GK 78’s were mass-produced at the time and sold very well, especially the hits. So much so that even today, given their age and fragility, there is still an abundance of them available. In fact because of this, most record dealers or serious 78 collectors want nothing to do with them. But yet one can easily find eBay flooded with these 78s – with some priced as high as $30-$50 or more!

Realistically, Gene Krupa Brunswick 78s from the late 30’s in EX or better condition should only command about $7-$10 each. His Columbia 78s from the 40’s in EX or better condition will only value at about $4-$5 each. Maybe a little more for the Columbia 35000 series which are slightly rarer then the rest and then maybe a little less for his Okeh releases which were budget releases and are not so rare. Still, this is decidedly less than one sees presently listed on the majority of eBay’s auction listings. Add to that the fact that the old shellac 78s are very HEAVY and expensive to ship and one could easily end up paying more than the item’s worth just in shipping alone!

It may be people have that old assumption that just because it’s old, it must be worth something. But actually in the hobby of collecting, in addition to an item’s condition of course, its value is usually determined by market supply and demand. The demand has to outweigh the supply in order to increase an item’s value. Which, as discussed earlier, would hardly seem the case with regard to Krupa 78s ….to be continued