The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Shipped to me in Hemlock, NY from Mt. Brydges, Ontario, Canada. It's an Amberola D-X horn, and unbelievably it suffered not so much as a scratch. Always love sharing this one.

My worst packing experience had a happy ending also. Miraculous, actually. About ten years ago on EBay,
I purchased a Blind Lemon Jefferson 78 (Okeh 8455 Matchbox Blues/Black snake moan) in what, based on the photos, appeared to be in near-mint condition.
It arrived in a large mailing envelope with no sleeve, sandwiched between two thin 11x14" plates of picture frame glass held together by pieces of yellow masking tape. I could hear the shattered pieces inside, and my heart sank. But when I cut away the envelope, and carefully removed the broken glass, I saw to my utter amazement that the record not only arrived unbroken, but unscratched and completely free of
any damage. And the record really is in near-mint condition.

Steven

Blue Amberol 1501, the first ever issued, arrived in a used manilla window envelope with only it's original box to protect it. I was just in time to stop the postman from ramming it through my letterbox. My eBay feedback to the seller said the the item arrived safely, but no thanks to the minimal packaging.

fran604g wrote:Shipped to me in Hemlock, NY from Mt. Brydges, Ontario, Canada. It's an Amberola D-X horn, and unbelievably it suffered not so much as a scratch.

Unwrap a smile.JPG

Always love sharing this one.

Amazing it survived though...

First, this had nothing at all to do with the sender/seller. He sold me an expensive paper item on Ebay and promptly mailed it from PA on Feb 11 2019. Unfortunately, he thought (given the size) to send in a padded envelope with no tracking. After three weeks I had Ebay refund me my money and the seller was out the item and money. Because he had no tracking, Ebay refunded me right away....no questions asked.
I felt very bad as I never had an issue with a package before.

Last Thursday Sept 29, the envelope arrived at my place in Washington State. It took that long from PA to WA....????. Looks like it got wet somewhere.

Since I no longer owned the item and was able to purchase another, I refused it and it will go back to the seller. Maybe it took a long vacation in Hawaii..??.

At least it was found and is now being returned. He should have it back in his hands by sometime next year....at that speed.... .

Not a windup but I’m dealing with a packing horror story today. What would have been an excellent Garrard turntable in nice shape is now a parts machine. Unacceptable.

Oh what a pity, I'm sorry for you... But can't you make an all good example from the various ones you've lately acquired? Maybe it's possible...

An 1896 Berliner record shipped corner to corner crossways in an empty cardboard box with no packing of any kind… absolutely nothing to protect the record…. Literally just the record and the box.. surprisingly it did not break during shipment.

I won about 70 early 78 records (all around 1910-1920) in an eBay auction. The seller put them in a large orange Home Depot bucket stacked one on top of the other with a small piece of cardboard in between each record. When I saw the bucket at my doorstep, my heart sank. It was amazing how heavy it was. However, not one record broke in transit, which I find absolutely amazing.

In about a week I'll be receiving a VV-50. I provided some important packing notes. They sent me this note back "Thank you for your purchase! While we are not taking specific packing requests, you can rest assured that we are packing each item with care. It is our intention that it arrives safely at its destination. Have a great day! "

This is what I sent them ... I'm sure it will be fine.
I just think that was not the best way to address my concerns.

James.