The Great Collectors of the Past, issue #1

[MicaMonster]

I received so much positive feedback on the hand-written letter explaining Edison reproducers, that I have selected articles from my personal collection to present for your bemusement and inspiration. You thought you were a bad record collector? Over these next few weeks I will be posting (weekly) articles about record collectors that made it big (their collections!), one who made it a $1M business, and collectors that park their cars in the street because their home and garage is at full capacity. So much to share, but I want to feed you sllllowly.

So, let's move on to Article #1: Jacob Schneider, from HiFi Review

http://www.lagparty.org/~wyatt/schneider.jpg

[Jerry B.]

Very interesting. What ever happened to the Jacob Schneider collection? Thanks, Jerry

[FloridaClay]

Thanks for the post and look forward to future ones. Now that was a collection!!

Clay

[tomwil]

So, let's move on to Article #1: Jacob Schneider, from HiFi Review

http://www.lagparty.org/~wyatt/schneider.jpg

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

Wanting to know the year this article was published, I did a quick search and found 1959. It would be interesting to find out what happened with that collection.

[Mr Grumpy]

Very Interesting read... SHHH!!! I'm at work, supposed to be working!

Keep them coming please.

[52089]

A good friend of mine at one time had a room built onto her house strictly for her record collection. The room was roughly 20 feet long x 15 feet wide. Her country collection was on one long wall and her rock collection was on the other long wall. She had no cylinders, very few 78s, and no antique phonographs, but good lord she had a lot of albums and 45s!!

[VintageTechnologies]

I noticed in the article that apart from 10,000 classical records, all of his records were popular numbers, pressed from 1880 to 1946. 1880? Really? Reporters couldn't get their facts straight in 1959, and still can't.

[kirtley2012]

I noticed in the article that apart from 10,000 classical records, all of his records were popular numbers, pressed from 1880 to 1946. 1880? Really? Reporters couldn't get their facts straight in 1959, and still can't.

i do beleive that some berliner test pressings exist from the early 1880's, so it may just be possible... or atleast this guy claims he has one.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J6OmXaLdKE

[gramophone78]

I noticed in the article that apart from 10,000 classical records, all of his records were popular numbers, pressed from 1880 to 1946. 1880? Really? Reporters couldn't get their facts straight in 1959, and still can't.

i do beleive that some berliner test pressings exist from the early 1880's, so it may just be possible... or atleast this guy claims he has one.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J6OmXaLdKE

Alex, don't believe everything on the internet. Berliner did not even start experimenting until the mid to late 1880's. He did become a US citizen in 1881... . AFAIK.....there are no early experimental test pressings in private hands. The ones that are known are in the LOC & the Smith and where given by Berliner himself and or family.

[VintageTechnologies]

Be careful what you read on the Internet, I see conflicts over dates. As near as I can tell, Berliner started recording masters on zinc disks in 1888. He licensed manufacturing rights to the German toymaker Kammerer & Reinhardt in 1889 to produce hand-cranked machines and stamped 5" disks made of celluloid. Those were made for only a few years until the novelty wore off. Berliner began making and marketing his wares in Washington DC in 1894. The earliest Berliner record that I own is dated 1895.