Found a very nice brown wax record...now what?

[VanEpsFan1914]

Whilst running errands I made a quick run-through of the local antique mall/shabby-shack/where old things go to die.

And I found a molded-process Columbia Record of "The Fireman's Duty" on brown wax. It's really a nice copy--there is faint mold on the beginnings and ends but the middle, I'd say a full 80% of the record surface, has that butterscotch-pudding look to it, the way we wish they all looked! A playable and good listening copy.

I haven't played it. I have a Fireside and a K reproducer as my only 2-minute setup and wouldn't dare shred it on that.

Would I be better off:

find a B reproducer & play it, but accept the fact that it's extremely fragile and I risk destroying it with it each playing?
selling it?
using it as an excuse for buying a small graphophone? (Don't want to do this even though B's and Q's are cool)
trading it to an archivist?

I just figured that any old record of this era is going to be tough to find, and thought that someone might like it and give it the preservation it deserves. I feel very honored to have a good brown-wax cylinder now, but think it needs to find a new home among professional collectors.

(With it was Edison Gold Moulded 3172 "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," supposedly church chimes but listed as tubular bells--it came with original box and lid! A real time capsule.)

[Lucius1958]

Well... a brown wax cylinder is going to wear with play on a period machine, whatever you do.

1.) A B reproducer would definitely be kinder to the cylinder; if you make a recording of it with that, you can replay the recording without worrying about wear.

2.) The same conditions pertain to buying a floating-reproducer machine.

3.) You can trade it to an archivist, who can transfer it with a modern, lightweight pickup. If it's of any historical importance, they can send the transfer to be recorded to a more durable resin copy.

Bill

[drh]

Maybe this would be just the excuse you've needed to buy an Archeophone!

[Governor Flyball]

Early Columbia moulded cylinders were brown. If it is a moulded brown cylinder, it should play with a model C reproduced with no problem.

What is the catalogue number?