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Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 8:55 am
by Steve
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction ... circa-1930
Hopefully, National Band gramophones will all very soon see a steep rise in their stock value. I have several portables I'd be willing to sell for £20,000 each!
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 10:38 am
by drh
Sotheby's gives it as "ca. 1930" and names a maker, but surely it's somewhat earlier than that, and the "maker" name tag is for a dealer, not a manufacturer? That would have been my assessment, anyhow, but I'm neither an auction house identification expert nor especially well versed in English phonographs, so perhaps I'm mistaken. As a personal matter, I agree that the decoration is spectacular, but the lines of the piece of furniture underneath aren't that appealing, at least to my eye. Certainly the amount realized is cause for
.
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 10:45 am
by Steve
drh wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 10:38 am
Sotheby's gives it as "ca. 1930" and names a maker, but surely it's somewhat earlier than that, and the "maker" name tag is for a dealer, not a manufacturer? That would have been my assessment, anyhow, but I'm neither an auction house identification expert nor especially well versed in English phonographs, so perhaps I'm mistaken. As a personal matter, I agree that the decoration is spectacular, but the lines of the piece of furniture underneath aren't that appealing, at least to my eye. Certainly the amount realized is cause for
.
To be fair to Sotheby's (and I'm usually someone who bashes auctioneers when they get things very wrong), they do correctly state that it is a National Band gramophone and the retailer is the name given in the title description, W. A. Webber. With that said, you do have to read the full description to see that so it is somewhat clumsily presented!
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 1:47 pm
by epigramophone
If I ever decide to sell mine I will be sure to call Sotheby's first
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 1:51 pm
by Steve
epigramophone wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 1:47 pm
If I ever decide to sell mine I will be sure to call Sotheby's first
You'd never get more than £30,000 for that!
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 2:58 pm
by Curt A
"I have several portables I'd be willing to sell for £20,000 each!"
If they look like this, you might have something...
- Screenshot 2023-09-08 at 2.53.49 PM.png (125.42 KiB) Viewed 2777 times
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 3:01 pm
by Curt A
Pic from original listing before it disappears...
- Screenshot 2023-09-08 at 2.59.24 PM.png (210.62 KiB) Viewed 2777 times
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:46 pm
by Sidewinder
Not sure what the excitement is, the gramophone only sold for like £300.
The rest was for Freddie Mercury's DNA.
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 12:24 pm
by drh
epigramophone wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 1:47 pm
If I ever decide to sell mine I will be sure to call Sotheby's first
I like the cabinet design of yours much better than that of the one that recently sold. Lovely machine (yours, that is--the Sotheby's one looks more like some sort of strange invading bug from the planet Blorf)!
Re: Record price for a cabinet gramophone?
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 1:08 pm
by CarlosV
drh wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 12:24 pm
epigramophone wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 1:47 pm
If I ever decide to sell mine I will be sure to call Sotheby's first
the Sotheby's one looks more like some sort of strange invading bug from the planet Blorf!
Indeed, it looks like it was made for a 50's sci-fi B-film!