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Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 1:17 am
by Curt A
My best find didn't come from Craigslist... an 1894 Type G Graphophone, but I found it through an unrelated "wanted" posting on this forum in Yankee Trader...

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:58 am
by epigramophone
Until I joined this Forum I had never heard of Craigslist, which has a small presence in the UK compared to eBay.

When you enter the site you are asked to select the area nearest to your location. I have just done so, and there are no gramophones or phonographs listed. I then extended my search to the next two counties and still found nothing, so Craigslist looks as though it promises to be a complete waste of time for me.

Have any of our UK members had any good finds, or indeed ANY finds, on Craigslist?

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 7:40 am
by cleveland1996
Be careful of Craigslist postings in the UK...for some reason it is full of scammers and crookedness..I have seen many super rare machines listed for sale that I know are part of collections here in the US...be very careful...

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:22 am
by Curt A
Craigslist is not only full of scammers, but can be seriously dangerous and extreme caution is warranted. If your seller has no problems conducting business at a police station, you are probably OK... otherwise be very wary. The following list documents crimes from 2017 and is just the tip of the iceberg...
http://craigslistkillings.blogspot.com

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:54 am
by need4art
Craigslist has been nothing but great for me-not a lot but some very interesting items. The best of the lot was a Victor VE-9-54-E with a very mint cabinet, correct albums, instruction manual. Not exactly inexpensive and it still does not work, but the condition will make the expense of repair worthwhile. In addition it has been in the same family since new and I bought it as I was at the home working for the person who was running the estate sale. I was doing art appraisals and did not even notice it, but a day later looking at ads on Craigslist I saw it, calling the number I found myself talking to my client. went back and 4 people later it was in the truck.

I have never felt a problem with safety and Craigslist, I just talk to the individuals that are selling long enough to feel like they are normal people and after going to 20-25 homes I have never had a problem. I have not gone to some because the person I talked with did not "feel" right to me.
Abe

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 12:42 pm
by JerryVan
HisMastersVoice wrote:I don't have much luck getting to stuff on time (and JerryVan is my competition!). I did however just buy something really awesome on CL this week, sight unseen... Picking up Saturday. Stay tuned!

WHAT!? I missed something?

Hope to see your new find pictured here. Phonograph?

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:00 pm
by need4art
My wife and I are currently in Texas as babysitters while my daughter and son-in-law celebrate their anniversary in Rome.

I have had the unit a while and currently my victrola room is full of all kinds of stuff as I had to clear out the guest room of all the other stuff we have picked up so that we would have room for a Rotary Club couple from Pakistan that have stayed with us for a month. Once we get back I will clean the room out and take and post some pictures of the unit. Pierce-Arrow Keith Cenedella has seen the unit in the flesh and told me that it is in better condition than any he had ever seen. In fact except for a few nicks on the legs it looks new. The albums are in good shape, but far from perfect but are not missing any paper parts, the turn table covering has some cracks but is still pretty grippy. I have not figured out how to fix or recover the turntable yet but doing the electronics and doing the servicing on the turntable is first. There was a service tag from 1939, 1948 and one undated and some additional tubes inside the unit. The granddaughter remembers it working last in the late 50's. it came to Arizona from Ca.
Abe

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 1:32 am
by Lucius1958
Found all my Edison disc machines on CL, and also a bunch of cylinders that included some good French series BAs and an Opera series Indestructible.

Bill

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:57 pm
by Jerry B.
I have had nothing but good experiences buying and selling on Craigslist. Every year I buy a few things and pick them up on my to and from Union. I've found that if you can talk to someone on the phone each party gets a sense of the other's character. Sometimes I offer a deposit buy many times I've pre-paid for an item. On the road I've even had offers for a meals and one time I was offered a room for the night. I travel with a case of good Oregon Pinot Gris and, if appropriate, offer a bottle of wine to someone pleasant to work with. I am cautious but I'm not dealing with guns, jewelry, coins, objects that can be turned into cash quickly. There are not many phono thugs out there. I'm careful and cautious and my experiences are enjoyable.

Jerry Blais

Re: Your best find on craigslist

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 1:22 pm
by PeterF
Here in San Francisco, where craigslist originated, things are a little bit more organic than perhaps other parts of the country or world. The way it works around here, at least in a lot of cases, is as if it was a sort of cyber garage sale operated by acolytes of the Grateful Dead.

I remember one weekend a few years back when we turned two used cars and a coffee table and a DVD player, into a different used car.

The coffee table part of the deal involved me meeting a young mother at a storage facility, with the coffee table in tow, and upon arrival she put her toddler in my arms and said “here hold him while I take a look at the table.” We needed to meet at the storage because they were remodeling and had no place for it otherwise.

She offered to toss in a few things that she had in her storage, but there was nothing that I needed. When I returned home another guy was waiting, with the cash for the first car we were selling, so he took that home.

That was on a Saturday, and then the next day, another guy came over - to sell us his Subaru, and he ended up leaving with the cash from the coffee table and the first car, and a second car we were selling. We threw in a DVD player, and a healthy serving of tiramisu.

Everybody won, plus I got some toddler time, which is always a bonus.