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We recently spent a couple of days with DeeDee's family in Bakersfield, CA. Her uncle said his brother was a hoarder that had some machines he was planning to sell. I had low expectations but I was wrong. He had a Fireside with a Music Master horn, Edison Opera with no elbow, horn, or gear cover, and a Victor IV with a Columbia BI back bracket, tone arm, and big nickel horn. All three are project machines but they will be terrific when complete. I made a fair offer of several thousand dollars and can't wait to start on them. Sorry but no photos at the moment.

Jerry Blais

Jerry B. wrote:We recently spent a couple of days with DeeDee's family in Bakersfield, CA. Her uncle said his brother was a hoarder that had some machines he was planning to sell. I had low expectations but I was wrong. He had a Fireside with a Music Master horn, Edison Opera with no elbow, horn, or gear cover, and a Victor IV with a Columbia BI back bracket, tone arm, and big nickel horn. All three are project machines but they will be terrific when complete. I made a fair offer of several thousand dollars and can't wait to start on them. Sorry but no photos at the moment.

Jerry Blais

Wow! Several THOUSAND dollars! My family would shoot me if I paid that much money for phonos! Congrats on your finds Jerry!

Jerry B. Congratulations. Yeah when I spend that kind of money I do not tell many people. Ha ha Sounds like some fun machines.......

Jerry B. Congratulations. Yeah when I spend that kind of money I do not tell many people. Ha ha Sounds like some fun machines.......

I paid a fair price for the projects and did not want to give the impression that I took advantage of a less than knowledgeable seller. He did tell me that he paid $25 for the Opera!

Jerry B.

Sounds like you got a super deal, Jerry. Once you get them, you'd better get working on them so they will be ready for sale at Union.
Harvey Kravitz

This opens an intriguing new area of humble-bragging here on the forum.

Where most of us are satisfied with smugly saying stuff like...

"Oh, yes, it's one of my favorite Tommy Johnson blues records on Paramount, and it sounds great on all 7 of my Vic VI's"

we can now add icing-on-the-cake phrases like...

"...for which I paid hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cents."

Thanks Jerry, you're a peach!

(of the thousands we harvest each year from our several groves out back)

Nice acquisition Jerry! A little envy here and I do appreciate you sharing.

Jerry B. wrote:We recently spent a couple of days with DeeDee's family in Bakersfield, CA. Her uncle said his brother was a hoarder that had some machines he was planning to sell. I had low expectations but I was wrong. He had a Fireside with a Music Master horn, Edison Opera with no elbow, horn, or gear cover, and a Victor IV with a Columbia BI back bracket, tone arm, and big nickel horn. All three are project machines but they will be terrific when complete. I made a fair offer of several thousand dollars and can't wait to start on them. Sorry but no photos at the moment.

Jerry Blais

Sounds really interesting and looking forward to seeing the photo's.

Can not wait to see the machines.. Can you post a few pics of the restoration of each one.. Tom

Can not wait to see the machines.. Can you post a few pics of the restoration of each one.. Tom

We are currently in Mesa, AZ for the month of February so it will be some time before I get back to my work bench. I'll take some "as found" photos before I start.

I'd love to hear from Arizona collectors. Please send a text to 541-990-0781.

Thanks, Jerry Blais