I was out running an errand with my dad today, and we went by an antique store. I had been in this store before (owned by a VERY crabby old lady at the time), and had found some Aeolian Vocalion records in the back. She had stuck a price tag sticker on the records (right over the groove I may add ) with a price tag of $8 each. To me that seemed unreasonable but I bought one anyways cause they're pretty cool. Today I went back in the store to find a new owner! So I went in the back and sure enough the rest of those Aeolian 78's were still there! I made and album of some of the older acoustic/early electrics and the rest of those Aeolian records and offered the guy $15 for the album of 12 records. I was very please he agreed because a few months prior I paid 8x the amount !
I find that when I am out and about looking through 78's at antique stores/ thrift shops that I am MUCH more inclined to buy the record if the shellac is colored (Red, blue, swirled). Am I the only one that is this way about records? The reason the lady had them for $8 each was strictly because they were red. Does a colored record have more value than a regular black record?
maybe this is another one of my dumb questions , but I am curious what others think\
I buy music that I like to listen to, generally. Even condition is not that much of a factor to me. However, I will buy labels that look cool or unusual based solely on their appearance. If I seen a "red" shellac record with the title "Hawaiian guitar 2 step" and a black victor batwing record with the title "Good Morning Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip. I would choose the batwing victor all day (I love WW1 related records).
Ever since I started collecting records just over 40 yrs ago, I've bought records that appeal to me in some way or another. I'd probably been collecting for 15 yrs and had 2000 records before I really started taking notice of what was actually on them and started buying discs because I liked the artist or it was song I liked by another artist on a different label.
Before that, I'd go through a pile of records and pick out discs with a label I didn't have or because they looked like an early record from the teens, or because they were different. That's how I got my small collection of Vocalion, Domino and Australian Summit label "red" records. I bought every one simply because of their colour and because over here you seldom come across them. I still have never even seen a Pathé coloured disc in the flesh.
The same is true of blue Columbia's.
In pre internet days, I'd buy a record because the title sounded interesting (like "I want to be a nudist), or because it was an artist I'd never seen before. I like to have examples of all sort of music genres because there's good and bad recordings in every one of them, from ragtime to rap.
Unlike today, I couldn't just jump on YouTube etc to sample a song or artist, so I was pretty much buying blind.
My least favorite of them all is religious music, but I still buy them if it's an unusual label so I've got quite a few different ones from the 20s to 50s, even though I'll never play them.
The same is true for kids records. I must have over a hundred of those, but I might listen to them once and never play them again. I'll buy songs from Disney cartoons whether they're as they were heard onscreen, intended as a kids story album, or performed by a big band as a more adult version.
I also like to buy records by Australian artists, so I've sort of got all these collections within my collection.
Because if the different ways I've bought and collected discs, I've ended up with some pretty rare and unusual records. And for me at least, it keeps my collection interesting.
The one thing I have never worried about is the monetary value of any of them. I've paid around $120 a couple times for records on eBay that are realistically only $10 records and could quite possibly come across in the wild for $1 because they could by no means be considered rare, although obviously someone out there must have thought it was worth $119, but because I wanted it I put in a $200 bid at the last minute.
The first few Berliners I got I had to get from England and was paying about $60-80 each for those because I wanted and could afford them. Then a few years ago 3 Berliners appeared on eBay here with an opening bid of $10 so I put a $100 bid on them, and to my amazement 10 days later I got them for $10. I still can't believe nobody else placed a bid on them.
The way I see it,I pay too much for some and get others cheap so it kind of averages out as far as value is concerned, and even if it didn't, I've got my $120 worth from the enjoyment I've had listening to record anyway.
I do like to know if a particular record is rare.
I bought a vitaphone record for $1, and when I contacted the online vitaphone project about 15 yrs ago, it turned out to be a record they didn't know existed and at the time it was the only copy known to exist. I don't know if they've found another copy since, so while it's not a valuable record, it is certain very rare, and knowing that, I take extreme care in storing and handling it.
I think those concerned with values as part of the reason for buying records and theyre hoping to make huge profits selling them, then they really should put in the leg work and research what's valuable and what's not before they buy them.
That way they can avoid over paying for stuff and being disappointed that something they think might be valuable really isn't, plus it leaves it for someone else who will appreciate it the way it was intended.
I think the fact both you and I have both bought records because if their colour proves they are collectible.
But as for valuable I guess it depends what you'd class valuable to be.
I suppose in a world where 90% of records are worth $1, then you could say a record worth $10 is indeed valuable.
Last edited by gramophoneshane on Sat May 09, 2020 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
gramophoneshane wrote:I do like to know if a particular record is rare.
I bought a vitaphone record for $1, and when I contacted the online vitaphone project about 15 yrs ago, it turned out to be a record they didn't know existed and at the time it was the only copy known to exist. I don't know if they've found another copy since, so while it's not a valuable record, it is certain very rare, and knowing that, I take extreme care in storing and handling it.
Shane, would you happen to have an audio transfer of the disc? I'm very interested in early audiovisual recording mediums, and would thoroughly appreciate hearing the contents of the record.
PHONOGRAPH, n. An irritating toy that restores life to dead noises. -Ambrose Bierce
I do actually. I'll just have to try and find it, then work out how to upload it somewhere from the cd.
I recorded it for the vitaphone people to listen to.
It's called Vitaphone Fanfare, and only plays for about 30 seconds.
They seemed to think it may have been played as people entered the theatre or just prior to the start of the movie.
They offered me the chance to swap my record for one they have multiple copies of. I think maybe the jazz singer was one of them?
I'd have to look, as I printed out the emails and put them in the record sleeve. I kind of regret not taking them up on the offer now.
I was actually just thinking I should contact them again to see if they had located another copy and we're still interested in the disc.
It really is useless to me, as it's recorded at 33rpm and can't be played on a gramophone, but it's nice just having as a label sample and as one of Victor's first 33 pressings.
A common disc can do both of those for me, and I think mine really should be preserved properly instead of sitting on a shelf with a bunch of other random stuff.
* That CD was easier to find than I though.
I have a feeling I may have uploaded it to boxnet?
Think that's what it was called, but don't know if it even exists now.
I'll see if I can find it and if I can get into the account to check it out.
If I'm successful I'll send you the link via pm
I am at the point in collecting where I am no longer buying all the 78’s I find. I just look for ones that I find to be unique/ stuff I like. I always look for labels I don’t have, especially early acoustic labels. But when a colored record pops up I just can’t help myself , they are really cool. I wish there was more out there
I actually have 3 of those Pathé records, and they are just stunning
travisgreyfox wrote:I buy music that I like to listen to, generally. Even condition is not that much of a factor to me. However, I will buy labels that look cool or unusual based solely on their appearance. If I seen a "red" shellac record with the title "Hawaiian guitar 2 step" and a black victor batwing record with the title "Good Morning Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip. I would choose the batwing victor all day (I love WW1 related records).
Mr Zip, Zip, Zip by Eugene Buckley(aka Arthur Fields) is one of my favorite songs and I'm lucky to have a fine copy of it I too love and collect WWI related 78's!
travisgreyfox wrote:I buy music that I like to listen to, generally. Even condition is not that much of a factor to me. However, I will buy labels that look cool or unusual based solely on their appearance. If I seen a "red" shellac record with the title "Hawaiian guitar 2 step" and a black victor batwing record with the title "Good Morning Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip. I would choose the batwing victor all day (I love WW1 related records).
Mr Zip, Zip, Zip by Eugene Buckley(aka Arthur Fields) is one of my favorite songs and I'm lucky to have a fine copy of it I too love and collect WWI related 78's!
Steve
I have a copy of that one too which is great, but there's nothing like that old familiar sound of Billy Murray's voice singing it.
Hi David,
Coloured-shellac records are not necessarily more valuable, but they sure are fun!
Actually, those Aeolian-Vocalions are interesting, but not for the reason you bought them. The brown ones at the top are the early vertical-cut ones (where the needle goes up and down rather than side to side). They are quite rare. Notice that the lower ones have the caption LATERAL on the label - that label is also quite rare, because soon after, (around 1917?) lateral became the norm, so there was no need to say so on the label.
The artwork of the Aeolian Company (labels, magazine advertisements etc.) was notably superior to that of most other companies' - but then, they were manufacturers of player-pianos and residence pipe-organs, which were very much high-ticket merchandise.
When it comes to pretty labels, though, you have to hand it to the French. Some of theirs (e.g. Pathé, Vox) have multi-colour Art-Deco labels which make our plain Columbias and Victors look very drab.
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) with a price tag of $8 each. To me that seemed unreasonable but I bought one anyways cause they're pretty cool. Today I went back in the store to find a new owner! So I went in the back and sure enough the rest of those Aeolian 78's were still there! I made and album of some of the older acoustic/early electrics and the rest of those Aeolian records and offered the guy $15 for the album of 12 records. I was very please he agreed because a few months prior I paid 8x the amount 
!
, but I am curious what others think\
I too love and collect WWI related 78's!