Ratfab in Mölndal!

I don’t know excatly when this was listed but i guess it was a few days ago. It’s on ebay UK which for some reason makes it not show up on a search on ebay.com but in the app you will find it on a standard “ratfab” search. Anyway, there has been quite a few copies listed in the last couple of months so the listing itself is nothing spectacular. What was funny though was to see that the seller was located in Mölndal which is where i live. And here i was thinking i had the only Ratfab in town… I contacted the seller to ask where he found it and if he also collected Warhol covers but as it turns out he got a hold of it as a result of a trade for some other record(s) and he collected punk records and not Warhol covers.

As with many of the recently listed copies the cover appears to be in great condition and the record itself has never been played. As always it’s going to interested to follow the auction and see where it closes. The timing might be a little unlucky since some guy listed many of the really rare covers last week, Ultra Violet, Cool Gabriels, Trombone by Three, The Nation’s Nightmare and many more are ending at the same time… But considering the condition i wouldn’t be surprised to see it sell for upwards of $1000.

I want to wish the seller good luck and for a moment there i thought i had a fellow Warhol covers collector right in my own backyard.

The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole on ebay

Apart from the one on the Fulton Ryder site this is the first time i’ve seen this on ebay or anywhere else. I love this dust jacket and it’s one that i hope to find one day but the starting bid is a little bit to high but it’s going to be interesting to see if it sells. It’s also fun to see that there are copies out there…

There are a few other pretty rare books that are available if you’re willing to pay good money for them. For example there’s a copy of Pistols for Two at this site called designopolis with an asking price of $300, not to bad i guess but it’s not to be for me at this moment. There’s also a copy of The Adventures of Maud Noakes on Etsy for $115 which i think is actually a pretty good price.

Hopefully i’ll get to add all of these to my collection one day.

The last few weeks…

It’s been an interesting last few weeks, even though i’ve mostly been observing the action from the sideline. First Richard Forrest (after all the members in the “Warhol Cover Collectors Club” finally recieved their copies) got the chance to put his mock-ups on ebay. First in line was the very nice looking Night Beat box, basically impossible to find and the copy i recieved was incredibly well made and in my opinion it’s a great addition to any collection. It did attract a lot of followers and eventually sold at the starting bid of $300, a bit surprising to me as i thought it would end up seeing quite a lot of bidding.

Next out is the incredibly beautiful full set of all five color variations of the cover to Giant Size $1,57 Each, all handmade and individually silk screened. I think it was put up on ebay yesterday and for some reason i can’t see how many followers it has, but it will be very interesting to see how this listing develops. This is basically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for pretty much every collector to get a full set of these covers. To get a hold of even a single copy of an original cover you have to be a mutated cross between Scrooge McDuck and Gladstone Gander, and then imagine having to finding all five…

And just when i was silently whining and complaining to myself about how long it’s been since i’ve seen the Latin Rhythms by the Boston Pops EP on ebay two copies surfaced almost at the same time. The first one was listed with a completely crazy asking price of $1800 which of course caused it to not sell. Shortly after that acution ended another copy was listed with a much healthier starting bid and the auction closed yesterday at $260. This is one of my absolute favourite covers but sadly i’m temporarily on even more of a budget than usual so i coudn’t really fight until the end on this one. I was also hoping and thinking that this one might actually be able to find for about half of that price, me and Richard Forrest (unknowingly) fought over a copy back in april or may that, if i remember correctly, sold for just over $100.

The last weeks have also seen two new copies of the Ratfab cover being sold on ebay. I always follow the auctions for this record with great interest since it was initially the focus of this blog and it’s fun to see what’s happening with the price and value of this record. Both of these latest copies were in very similar condition and they also closed at pretty much the exact same price, one for $710 and the other one last night at $709. In all honesty i was actually a bit deflated about this since this is pretty close to what i payed for my copy, not quite as much but very much in the same vicinity. But i guess that’s part of the game.

Another thing that’s made me a bit low lately when it comes to my collecting is that neither of the two hooks i have layed out in the water are attracting any fish. I was hoping that for once i would be able to be the source of something new and exciting to the fellow members in the “Warhol Cover Collectors Club” and at least one thing seemed to have lots of promise. But it’s been dead silent now for many weeks and my hopes of providing a nice christmas gift kind of thing might not come true. Hopefully all is not lost though and i’ll get some positive news soon.

To end on a positive note i was able to get the Any Old Time EP yesterday for $20 from the same seller that sold the Boston Pops EP. I was the only bidder which usually makes me a little suspicious but it’s looked good and for that price it’s hard to feel ripped off in any way whatsoever.

Cool trash at Cult Jones

Before i found the On Record: 11 Artists booklet at Cult Jones i had never heard of the site. I’ve signed up to his newsletter and he sure gets a hold of some nice stuff. The latest was sent out today and among other things there was a very cool 12 page promo booklet for the movie Trash. It’s also allegedly signed by Warhol.

The price of $500 that he’s asking for it isn’t to bad either but i’ll still have to pass on it for now.

Yet another Ratfab on ebay

Up until quite recently it had been a while since the Ratfab record was listed on ebay. Then a copy emerged a couple of weeks ago and yesterday or the day before that another “new” copy was listed, again from a swedish seller. From the pictures i’d say it’s one of the better copies i’ve seen so far. Sellers usually put “limited to 200 or 300” copies in the description but Calle Häggqvist who played bass in the band has told me that there was about 500 copies made. How many that were actually sold and thus how many that theoretically can be in circulation will forever be a mystery though i suppose…

As always it’s going to be very interesting to follow this listing and see what the closing bid will be.

The Red and the Black – Stendhal (Doubleday, 1960)

This was another find from the amazon bargain bin, although it took some digging to find it. First of all this was one that i had no idea about until i was tipped off by Guy Minnebach. As with The Grand Mademoiselle the fact that it was published by Doubleday might have caught my attention but just looking at the drawing i would never have guessed it was by Warhol.

Maybe it’s because i’m still a bit of a novice at browsing amazon but there are so many editions of this book (and a few others as well) and finding the right one can be quite difficult sometimes, it’s a bit of a guessing game. This one was listed as [unknown binding] or something like that and after to many emails back and forth with a couple of different sellers i finally got to see some images showing that i was on the right track. I actually found two, i first ordered this one at a whopping $5. Shortly after i placed the order i got a reply with images from another seller showing the same cover in what looked like slightly better condition and with a fair price of $20. That cover still had some issues though so i decided to stick with the one i had already ordered. It’s not in the best condition though, but it’s good enough. It’s a little beaten up all over and there’s some writing in the top left corner, but all in all i’d say that it’s an OK copy. At least the area with the actual drawing is mostly undamaged.

As opposed to the records where i’ve listened to everything that i have in my collection i haven’t read any of the books so far. Apparently this is a novel in two volumes written by Marie-Henri Beyle who used the pseudonym or pen name “Stendhal” and it was first published in 1830. Maybe i’ll get around to start reading the books but a few titles seem a bit “heavy” and on some the condition of the binding is also a little weak and i don’t want to cause more damage than necessary, so we’ll see…

Thanks again for the tip Guy!