3 rare Lead Belly 78s including 'Black Betty' Musicraft 1939 (have some damage)
$
32
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
Lead Belly- Frankie and Albert (First Half)/ Looky, Looky, Yonder/ Black Betty/ Yallow Women's Door Bells- Musicraft, 223
Runout Information:
Side A: 5 GM499K
Side B: 7 GM503M
This one has an internal crack starting about an inch from the edge that should have little to no effect on play. Besides that, this single is really pretty clean and is very shiny, with only a few stray scratches and scuffs here and there. Should sound really good.
Lead Belly- Frankie and Albert (Completion)/ Ain't Goin' Down To The Well No Mo'/ Go Down Old Hannah- Musicraft, 224
Runout Information:
Side A: 4 GM499A
Side B: 5 GM509K
This single has four internal cracks, one of which gets about 3/4 of an inch from the edge. Only two of these are significant, and none of these really pose an immediate threat to the 78, but these cracks will have an audible effect on play. Besides the cracks, the surface of this single is in really good shape, with only a few marks and scuffs.
Lead Belly- Poor Howard/ Green Corn/ Fannin Street- Musicraft, 225
Side A: 4 GM505K
Side B: 4 GM498
This single has an internal crack that gets to about 3/4 of an inch from the edge, and also has a spot of weakened (but not cracked) shellac within half an inch from the edge. Again, I don't believe that this poses an immediate threat to the shellac, but it would have an audible effect on play. Besides the internal crack and weak spot, I could only see one minor scratch and some light marks and scuffs on the surface of this single.
Overall, I'm not exactly sure how to rate these singles condition-wise... I can't really play-grade them, because I don't have a proper 78 RPM phonograph. I played them on my record player at 78 RPM to make sure that they wouldn't skip (none of them do), but besides that, I don't really know how they will play sound-quality wise. If I had to guess, I'd say that Musicraft 223 would sound the best out of the lot, since I couldn't hear any pops from the internal crack on that one while playing it. As for the others, I heard several pops from 224 due to the cracks, yet the pops didn't drown out the music, and 225 had some popping, yet not as much as 224. They should all provide decent listens because of how clean they are otherwise. None of the cracks run all the way through the shellac and only really appear as cracks on one side, leaving weakened spots on the other side. I included pictures of the worst sides of the cracks so that you can see what the highest extent of the damage is. These are all still very playable copies of these very difficult to find singles, and they should all provide very enjoyable listening experiences.
If I had to give these singles condition grades, in an attempt to grade as conservatively and accurately as possible while keeping the internal cracks they have in mind, I'd give them:
Musicraft 223: Very Good- (VG-)
Musicraft 224: Good (G)
Musicraft 225: Good+ (G+)
Also, as you can see in the pictures, one of the 10" sleeves that I've provided with the singles has a paper tear. Not sure if that's important, but I felt that that was worth mentioning.
Shipping information:
Unfortunately, I currently don't ship outside of the US. Please forgive me for this inconvenience.
Items will be shipped via USPS Media Mail promptly after payment.
price rating
