Hard to find OOP Mosaic

[Fred]

Hello!

I was a "lurker" from years (!) and I hesitated to log in only for my ugly english. But I am an avid Mosaic addict, and where I live, in the far east provinces of the Empire (Italy) is very difficult to find OOP Mosaic sets. Of course, I ever used Ebay like a gold mine, but now, with "only" 42 items from my goal (all the sets minus the Miles Davis LPs), I meet some difficulties with sets that are priced very high.

Which are the sets really "rare", in your opinion? Obviously, it's not a matter of quality... I already have quite all this music in other editions.

Thanks a lot

[jazzbo]

It appears to me the earliest sets up through the Hodes are seldom seen for sale, and those from Hodes up through the Blakey are beginnig to be seen for sale less and less often.

[Dave James]

I noticed that both the Monk Black Lion/Vogue (112) and Bechet Blue Note (110) Mosaics were up on eBay over the weekend. As you might expect, they went for big bucks. $202.50 for the Monk and $222.50 for the Bechet. Considering the former is just a 3 CD set and the latter, 4 CD's, that's a lot of money.

I would tend to agree with Lon that the older the set, the rarer and more expensive it tends to be. For sure the number in the original issue has some influence as well. To my knowledge, with the exception of the Benedetti, the lowest issue number was 5,000 and the highest, 10,000.

If your goal is to collect every Mosaic, you're looking at a long, hard and spendy ride. I've toyed with the idea of trying to get all of them, but I discarded it as unrealistic sometime ago. For me, the problem outside of the cost is that some of the ones I don't have are in a style I wouldn't listen to much. That would mean I'd just have the set for the sake of having the set. I try to avoid that.

As far as the rarest of the rare, the one I see least often is probably the Quebec/Hardee (107).

Up over and out.

[blajay]

To my knowledge, with the exception of the Benedetti, the lowest issue number was 5,000 and the highest, 10,000.

I think the Commodore sets were 2,500 of each vol.

[cliffpeterson]

just to be clear, there is a difference between what was planned to be issued, i.e., 5,000, and what was actually issued. As I recall, the two Vee-Jay sets had really low numbers that were issued-around 2,000. And the Kid Ory set had a really low number before that licenses apparently timed out. Mosaic has never publically disclosed the actual number of sets issued per each release. So, looking back at the list of out of print sets, one cannot assume how easy it may be to pick-up a set since it is not known how many were actually sold.

Also, "rare" as it applies to Mosaic may have a different meaning depending on the media you want. if you do not differentiate between lps and cds, then no problem. But if you want cd sets only, then some of the really early sets that were issued in both lps and cds, are really rare and expensive, i.e., the ammons/lewis.

[Stefan Wood]

The Stuff Smith Verve set ended very early as well.

[BFrank]

Maynard Ferguson must be hard to come by because it always sells for many 100s of dollars.

[Fred]

Very interesting considerations, thanks.

Only in the last months, when I noticed I had 57 OOP sets on 99 (minus the Davis LPs), I started thinking - like a joke, in the beginning - to complete the collection.

For Dave James: Yes, the sets I "dislike" were a problem also for me: but I had some bad surprises also from issues I was waiting from their announcements (the second Hodges, i.e., please don't kill me); so I'm open to any surprise... Thanks for the Quebec/Hardee info!

For cliffpeterson: yes, you are right: it's certainly the case of the Kod Ory set, and I think also of the earlier Bechet. This is perhaps the reason why the Commodores and the Nat King Cole big sets, expensive also as new, are not so rare: they often surface on Ebay. There are also some "myths", like the two Roulette Basie: I paid an high price for both, thinking them were scarce, that isn't, as it seems after a lot appeared on the Bay.

For Bfrank: In effect, the Manyard Ferguson can be a case similar to Basie.

Thanks again all, and forgive my english

[Dave James]

Fred,

Not to worry about your English. You're communicating just fine. Besides. many of us on this board are used to deciphering messages we have some difficulty understanding. Usually, they're from Conrad (Berigan).

Jump in whenever you like. Lots of knowledge on this board as I'm sure you're aware.

Up over and out.

Edited December 2, 2008 by Dave James