The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Are there any forum members out there interested in Slovak records recorded by Andrej Pelak (tenor) during 1927-1929? Was there a sizeable Slovak immigrant community in the US during the 1920's?

I have about 20 of them electrically recorded with the Columbia label (Viva-tonal recording) and am just trying to get an idea for the interest in these records before taking the time to list them and put them for sale and just hear crickets from the potential lack of response .

I would appreciate any feedback on these foreign records.

Thanks,

AR

Yes, there was quite a Slovak diaspora, with about 1 in 7 Slovaks immigrating to the US from the 1880s to World War I (including three of my great-grandparents). Most of them left for economic reasons, and settled in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, often to work in the coal mines and steel mills.

As far as value, I'm really not sure, there is such extreme variation in the value of "ethnic" records, from Chinese Monarchs selling for $1000+ each, to Polish and Italian records that seem nearly impossible to sell by any means. Someone probably knows more than I do...

bfinan11,

Thanks for your response. That makes sense to me in that I got the records from a guy who received them from his elderly parents that live in Pennsylvania. Hopefully someone on the forum will have an interest in collecting them.

AR

Most of the Slovak discs I've found have been in Southeast Kansas and were acoustic.

apruizii wrote:bfinan11,

Thanks for your response. That makes sense to me in that I got the records from a guy who received them from his elderly parents that live in Pennsylvania. Hopefully someone on the forum will have an interest in collecting them.

AR

As I said I don't know what they're worth, but when you do find a price, or if you're hearing crickets, I might be interested myself

Hi I live in PA also and see many ethnic records pop up. Ukrainian 78s in particular in my area. But also Czech, Armenian, Irish, Slovak, Slovenia, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Turkish, etc. You could put them up on ebay and use global ship. sometimes outside USA buyers are interested. Slovak seem to be among the least popular, I've seen lots of 20 go for 20-30 USD. Ask if any relatives have Albanian 78s, now there you could have a mini gold mine. Some Russian artists can also go big time.

78recordpicker,

Thanks for your reply. Even though the Slovak records may be the least popular I was hoping someone would have a little bit more interest in hearing them play on an Orthophonic Victor or Viva-tonal Columbia phonograph which were primarily manufactured for playing electrically recorded records.

I'll look into putting one or two on ebay to test the market and will go from there.

AR

apruizii wrote:78recordpicker,

Thanks for your reply. Even though the Slovak records may be the least popular I was hoping someone would have a little bit more interest in hearing them play on an Orthophonic Victor or Viva-tonal Columbia phonograph which were primarily manufactured for playing electrically recorded records.

I'll look into putting one or two on ebay to test the market and will go from there.

AR

When I was in high school and college south of Cleveland on Sunday nights a few local radio stations would go "ethnic". It might be surprising just how "hot" some Slovak polkas can be.

I collect the Czech ones when I can find them. They are not real common but also not expensive, I guess because if one is not somehow ethnically connected, they are not very interesting.

Valecnik,

Yes, I was hoping for forum members to have an interest in the Slovak records based on an ethnic connection since as bfinan11 mentioned, there was quite a Slovak diaspora, with about 1 in 7 Slovaks immigrating to the US from the 1880s to World War I.

AR