Sold Date: July 30, 2019
Start Date: July 20, 2019
Final Price: $112.50 (USD)
Bid Count: 5
Seller Feedback: 2283
Buyer Feedback: 489

ROGER SMITH.   BE-BOP BOOGIE b/w STAY AWHILE WITH ME.

ART #305 Promotional

Now the rest of the story. I don't believe the ART label of this recording has ever been sold on eBay. I believe all sales of this record have been on the AFS label.

The ART label was owned by Harold Doane and the AFS label, which is the usual label for this record, was a subsiderary of ART. From the beginning ART specialized in recording club acts that were appearing in the Miami hotels and clubs. And many of ART recordings were pressed as promos for distribution by the artists themselves during their performances.

The Bear Family released "The Florida Box" CD's and the book which is included with the box set shows a picture of a 1959 Roger Smith, Be-Bop Boogie release on the ART label (marked promotional) on page 15. And we know that a Randy Luck, "I Was A Teen-Age Cave Man", exists on a ART promotional label which looks identical to this one.

The labels are not affixed very neatly (see the photos). You can see the creases in the label in and around the ART logo. This does not surprise me considering they probably pressed hastily for the artist's own distribution.

After much research, I can find NO information that would suggest that a repro of this record exists so I believe it to be legit. The numbers which are hand etched in the trail off are ART AFS 305-1 & ART AFS 305-2.

The record is visually graded NM (9).

The labels are clean and bright with a slight sticker stain on the A side.

I do NOT use the goldmine grading system but instead a 10 point grading system which I learned many years:
10 - Mint  
 9 - NM      
 8 - NM-
 7 - EX or VG++
 6 - VG+
 5 - VG
 4 - VG-
 3 - Good
 2 - Fair
 1 - Poor

I will be glad to combine your winnings to save you money on shipping costs.

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