American Columbia Values
this page first published by John Wright, 7 Dec 1997
last update 19 Mar 2005
vintage@jabw.demon.co.uk
Note: I lived in US for a time but I have limited knowledge of US labels and current values. If you are American then Tim Gracyk is your expert and you can gain valuable information at:
A common record label in an American 78rpm collection, Columbia is a
source of all types of music. Columbia began to issue single-sided 7" discs in 1901, the double-sided A- series began in 1908, originally black labels with silver printing
changed to dark blue labels in 1911, though later some of them were black again.
Then in 1915 the labels changed to bright blue. And in late 1923 the populars changed to the -D series, some labels had tri-colour flag designs. The black 'race' series began at 13000-D.
White country artists appeared on the 15000-D series. 1928 saw some special 'picture' labels on Paul Whiteman and Ted Lewis records. The red 35000 series appeared in 1939.
I have all the records listed below and the values quoted are typical prices paid at British record fair stalls where the stall-holder knows the demand for music and records.
American readers could translate these values directly to $ values as a guide.
For example:
| Cat. No. | Band or Artiste | Issue Date | Typical Value | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | Columbia Orchestra | 1901 | £10.00 | very early disc |
| 694 | J W Myers | 1902 | £5.00 | early disc |
| ||||
| A829 | Collins & Harlan Ada Jones | 1910 | £5.00 | ragtime songs |
| A937 | Vess Ossman (banjo) Prince's Band | 1910 | £5.00 | ragtime |
| A1909 | Bert Williams | 1915 | £4.00 | interesting vocal |
| A2478 | Al Jolson Collins & Harlan | 1917 | £3.00 | collectable early Jolson |
| A2577 | Mike Bernard (piano) | 1918 | £10.00 | ragtime piano |
| A2611 | Wilbur Sweatman Jazz Band | 1918 | £3.00 | not great jazz |
| A2844 | Gorman's Novelty Syncopators Ted Lewis Band | 1919 | £3.00 | novelty jazz of the time |
| A2905 | Happy Six | 1920 | £3.00 | getting hot |
| A2944 | Marion Harris | 1920 | £2.00 | popular vocal |
| A3729 | Johnny Dunn's Original Jazz Hounds | 1922 | £8.00 | blues-jazz |
| A3850 | Lanin Orchestra | 1923 | £1.00 | not so hot |
| A3857 | Georgians | 1923 | £5.00 | hot dance |
| A3936 | Bessie Smith | 1923 | £50.00 | blues |
| ||||
| 126-D | Fletcher Henderson Orchestra | 1924 | £15.00 | jazz |
| 366-D | Harry Reser's Syncopators | 1925 | £4.00 | good dance titles with banjo |
| 395-D | Fletcher Henderson Orchestra | 1925 | £20.00 | jazz with Louis Armstrong |
| 939-D | Lee Morse | 1927 | £5.00 | popular female vocal with good accomp. |
| 1444-D | Paul Whiteman Orchestra | 1928 | £15.00 | with Bing Crosby and Bix |
| 2010-D | Paul Whiteman Orchestra | 1929 | £10.00 | with Bing Crosby and Joe Venuti (violin) |
| ||||
| 14343-D | Blind Willie Johnson | 1927 | £30.00 | blues |
| 14511-D | Washington Phillips | 1929 | £30.00 | blues |
| ||||
| 15049-D | Al Carver | 1925 | £15.00 | country blues |
| 15102-D | Riley Puckett | 1926 | £15.00 | with fiddle, guitar |
| ||||
| 35667 | Paul Whiteman Tram,Bix,Lang | 1940 | £5.00 | re-issued/edited titles from 1927-28 |
| 35672 | Bessie Smith accomp Louis Armstrong | 1940 | £10.00 | re-issued titles from 1925 |
| 36634 | Teddy Wilson (piano) | 1941 | £8.00 | popular jazz pianist |
| 36680 | Benny Goodman Orchestra | 1942 | £4.00 | popular big band |
| 36722 | Benny Goodman's Sextet | 1940 | £6.00 | popular jazz |
| . | . | . | . | . |
These records are only examples of what kind of values are put on some of Columbia's very good records. There will be some records by the same artistes worth more or less,
depends on the quality of the music and on how many copies of the records were sold.
JABW Welcome page