For : Watch Tower Portable made by Thorens

[Talkophone]

Plays very good. Has some scuffs on the outside but in decent condition. $150 plus shipping. Any questions feel free to ask. I will respond.

[Tinkerbell]

It seems that several of these have popped up recently for sale on Ebay.

Did the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society discover that had a number of them stashed away in an attic or basement someplace, and they decided to sell them? (I think this is probably the fourth one I've now seen in the past two months.) Or is the same one just making the rounds for sale?

[gramophoneshane]

I think there's still a few of them out there Tinkers. Given the nature of their "door to door salesman" type technics, they must have been made in fairly high numbers so it's not too surprizing.
If anyone can ever show me another "Gospel Recording Inc" machine, I'd be very interested in seeing it.

[Tinkerbell]

I suppose I was just wondering why there have been so many of them as of late; I understand they were used primarily in the 30s and 40s, yet recently they seem to be popping up all over the place (okay, an exaggeration, but there have been two in the past week on Ebay, and another three or four in the past two months).

Here's one right now: eBay Item #220671836480

One that just closed on the 14th: eBay Item #250693950730

That is why I was questioning if they were perhaps recently discovered in some basement or attic storage... (or to use the most popular Ebay idiom appearing these days "attic fresh" ).

It is not my intention to sound cynical here, just questioning the apparent glut of one particular niche phonograph into the market. That being said, it appears Talkophone's asking price is very reasonable in light of the closing price of past Ebay items.

[gramophoneshane]

I suppose I was just wondering why there have been so many of them as of late;

I put it down to, like most things ebay, an example turns up and sells for a good price, then suddenly the market is flooded with them coming out of the woodwork.
If I wasn't on the opposite side of the globe, I'd probably be interested in this one myself. Not so long ago, these were bringing close to twice the asking price of this one.

[Tinkerbell]

I suppose I was just wondering why there have been so many of them as of late;

I put it down to, like most things ebay, an example turns up and sells for a good price, then suddenly the market is flooded with them coming out of the woodwork.
If I wasn't on the opposite side of the globe, I'd probably be interested in this one myself. Not so long ago, these were bringing close to twice the asking price of this one.

Good point...

[Talkophone]

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