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Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 12:44 am
by JAR

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:58 am
by CarlosV
There are newly-made styluses that look identical to this and to the old ones - some of them are made with glass balls, and some claim to be made with sapphire. The problem is that there is no way to distinguish visually a glass ball from a sapphire ball (as far as I am aware). The bigger problem is that sapphire balls tend to crack after short usage, and damage the record being played.

I tend to buy two types of styluses: the ones that have the name pathé marked on the shank, and the ones with colored balls, usually red or blue. These are genuine old stock, but they need to be inspected under magnification for chips or deformations on the sapphire, which I can only do after I buy them. There is also a US-made stylus with ivory shank (or what looks like ivory), probably made in the 40s, and that was sold with soft and loud tone variations. I bought a couple of these once, out of old stock, and it outperforms the old Pathé originals, but unfortunately I never saw these for sale since.

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 3:51 am
by estott
I bought one with a glass ball from a reputable seller- he was fooled. After a couple of plays it wore badly and developed shoulders. I use a vintage ivory shank Pathé and a Cheney sapphire.

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 4:42 am
by epigramophone
Pathé made their own Half-Tone Sapphire mounted on a white ivory-like shaft. Here is a picture of the packet, sadly not mine :

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:55 pm
by pellicano1
We shall see because I bought one from this seller. Waiting for it to come in.

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:40 pm
by Larry Hawes
This is silly. After selling over 200 of these do you not think I know the real thing. I purchased these from the seller many years ago. You perhaps have heard of him since I also assisted in placing his entire collection of cylinders and discs in the Library at University of California Santa Barbara after his death. Visit this site and move on. https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-co ... -pa-mss-78. Done. If you do not like the stylus I pay for return no charges to buyer.
Larry Hawes

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:57 pm
by gramophone-georg
Larry Hawes wrote:This is silly. After selling over 200 of these do you not think I know the real thing. I purchased these from the seller many years ago. You perhaps have heard of him since I also assisted in placing his entire collection of cylinders and discs in the Library at University of California Santa Barbara after his death. Visit this site and move on. https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-co ... -pa-mss-78. Done. If you do not like the stylus I pay for return no charges to buyer.
Larry Hawes
What is silly to me is berating folks who have no way of knowing that seller is you pre- purchase. Why the need to be upset? Just come in and say "I'm the seller, and yes, they are real". Voila. Now we know.

You know there are fakes out there and that eBay is a counterfeiter's heaven. It's nothing personal.

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:57 pm
by Phonofreak
Larry, Thanks for posting the info. I know you, and I knew Eduard. You guys are local. There are Forum members who do not know you and they want to know if this is the real deal or not. I don't think it is silly to make sure they are getting their monies worth. Yes, there are reputable sellers who sold glass styli as sapphire. Now that we know it is you, I'll vouch for you.
Harvey Kravitz
Larry Hawes wrote:This is silly. After selling over 200 of these do you not think I know the real thing. I purchased these from the seller many years ago. You perhaps have heard of him since I also assisted in placing his entire collection of cylinders and discs in the Library at University of California Santa Barbara after his death. Visit this site and move on. https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-co ... -pa-mss-78. Done. If you do not like the stylus I pay for return no charges to buyer.
Larry Hawes

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:16 pm
by melvind
Phonofreak wrote:Larry, Thanks for posting the info. I know you, and I knew Eduard. You guys are local. There are Forum members who do not know you and they want to know if this is the real deal or not. I don't think it is silly to make sure they are getting their monies worth. Yes, there are reputable sellers who sold glass styli as sapphire. Now that we know it is you, I'll vouch for you.
Harvey Kravitz
I agree with Harvey. Larry knows his stuff and is a great guy that always has the highest quality things both in his collection and what he sells. No worries with him ever!

Re: Sapphire ball stylus needle 78rpm Pathé For real?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:28 pm
by VictrolaGuy - Walt
Over the years I have bought several of Larry's [real] ball sapphires. Thinking back, I probably bought some from Eduardo a long time ago. Thanks for the information Larry!

Larry Hawes wrote:This is silly. After selling over 200 of these do you not think I know the real thing. I purchased these from the seller many years ago. You perhaps have heard of him since I also assisted in placing his entire collection of cylinders and discs in the Library at University of California Santa Barbara after his death. Visit this site and move on. https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-co ... -pa-mss-78. Done. If you do not like the stylus I pay for return no charges to buyer.
Larry Hawes