Incredible deal

[fran604g]

I don't know what the situation is with this Berliner, but I'm reminded of something that happened to me about 24 years ago - - right after we moved into this house. I had put ads in the local papers wanting to buy antique phonographs. I had a few calls, and a couple even worked out. But one call was from a young woman (she sounded like she was in her thirties...) telling me that she and her husband had just moved into a house in York (a small village 10 miles north of us). She said their house was old, and they had found an old phonograph in the attic. She said she knew it was a phonograph because it said "Edison Phonograph" on it. She also said she wanted to get rid of it. I asked if there was a "middle word" on the decal like "Edison Gem Phonograph" or Edison Standard Phonograph" or... She said she thought it was "Edison Home Phonograph" and when I asked her where the decal was located, she said it was on the lid. Well, at that time I didn't have a suitcase Home, so I was eager to see this machine. I offered to drive over, take a look at it, and make her a fair offer regardless of its condition. Her response? "Oh you can have it. I drive through your town every day to and from work, so if you have a porch or something, I'll just leave it."

Believe it or not, I've had a couple of people do just that over the years - - sometimes I've had to track them down and make them take money. So this didn't seem as crazy as it might sound now (by the way, this hasn't happened again since then!). I protested, saying that "I have to give you something for it. Once I see it, I'll give you a fair price. Regardless of its condition, it's worth something." Well, she was insistent on leaving this Home on my front porch. She asked for my address and said she'd drop if off a morning or two later. I gave her my address and then asked for hers so I could send her a check. She repeated - very nicely by the way (she sounded perfectly plausible throughout the whole conversation) that she didn't want anything for the machine. After a few minutes she brought the conversation to a close and politely hung up.

I took time off of work the morning she was supposed to drop off the machine so I could convince her to accept payment. But she never showed up. That night she called again, apologizing that her husband hadn't gotten around to bringing down the machine, but she would drop it off the next morning or the morning after. She still wouldn't give me her address or even her phone number. If I remember right, I sort of gave up catching her at that point - after all, I couldn't be taking off work every morning. My memory is a bit hazy on the details, but what I do remember is that she never showed up.

Over the intervening years, I've occasionally recalled this incident, and wondered what the woman's motives might have been. Or did her husband decide they should keep it? But if so, why didn't they contact me for information or repairs (which I offered should they decide to keep it)? Was she just getting off by imagining she was driving some stranger crazy? (If so, I must have frustrated her by continuously offering to buy the machine.) She sounded like a normal person...except for that "no address/no phone number sharing" thing. I guess I'll never know.

George P.

George,

The exact same experience happened to me with a nice Minolta Maxxum camera outfit, locally and in the same town I live in (supposedly). At some point my subconscious "defenses" were activated. I never dismiss my internal alerts, there's a reason we all have these "feelings".

Fran

[FellowCollector]

I don't know what the situation is with this Berliner, but I'm reminded of something that happened to me about 24 years ago - - right after we moved into this house. I had put ads in the local papers wanting to buy antique phonographs. I had a few calls, and a couple even worked out. But one call was from a young woman (she sounded like she was in her thirties...) telling me that she and her husband had just moved into a house in York (a small village 10 miles north of us). She said their house was old, and they had found an old phonograph in the attic. She said she knew it was a phonograph because it said "Edison Phonograph" on it. She also said she wanted to get rid of it. I asked if there was a "middle word" on the decal like "Edison Gem Phonograph" or Edison Standard Phonograph" or... She said she thought it was "Edison Home Phonograph" and when I asked her where the decal was located, she said it was on the lid. Well, at that time I didn't have a suitcase Home, so I was eager to see this machine. I offered to drive over, take a look at it, and make her a fair offer regardless of its condition. Her response? "Oh you can have it. I drive through your town every day to and from work, so if you have a porch or something, I'll just leave it."

Believe it or not, I've had a couple of people do just that over the years - - sometimes I've had to track them down and make them take money. So this didn't seem as crazy as it might sound now (by the way, this hasn't happened again since then!). I protested, saying that "I have to give you something for it. Once I see it, I'll give you a fair price. Regardless of its condition, it's worth something." Well, she was insistent on leaving this Home on my front porch. She asked for my address and said she'd drop if off a morning or two later. I gave her my address and then asked for hers so I could send her a check. She repeated - very nicely by the way (she sounded perfectly plausible throughout the whole conversation) that she didn't want anything for the machine. After a few minutes she brought the conversation to a close and politely hung up.

I took time off of work the morning she was supposed to drop off the machine so I could convince her to accept payment. But she never showed up. That night she called again, apologizing that her husband hadn't gotten around to bringing down the machine, but she would drop it off the next morning or the morning after. She still wouldn't give me her address or even her phone number. If I remember right, I sort of gave up catching her at that point - after all, I couldn't be taking off work every morning. My memory is a bit hazy on the details, but what I do remember is that she never showed up.

Over the intervening years, I've occasionally recalled this incident, and wondered what the woman's motives might have been. Or did her husband decide they should keep it? But if so, why didn't they contact me for information or repairs (which I offered should they decide to keep it)? Was she just getting off by imagining she was driving some stranger crazy? (If so, I must have frustrated her by continuously offering to buy the machine.) She sounded like a normal person...except for that "no address/no phone number sharing" thing. I guess I'll never know.

George P.

That's an interesting story George. I must admit that the story did not end as I thought it would. I thought for certain that you would tell us that the machine ended up being an early suitcase Edison Home with a Bettini attachment on it!!

Like Fran, I have a similar story... In the summer of 1999 I was contacted by a lady who had heard that I collected old phonographs and records. She indicated that she had one that had been in the family for generations and would be interested in selling it. I asked about it and she said it was an Edison with the "speaker" on it. I asked if I could come out to look at it right away and she said OK and provided me directions. I was about 45 minutes drive from her. My wife and I had just gotten cell phones and I took mine along with me (amazingly!) after I told my wife where I was hurrying off to. About 30 minutes into my journey to her place my wife called on my (new) cell phone and told me that the lady called our home phone indicating she had changed her mind and was not sure that she wanted to sell it anymore. Since I was already more than halfway there I decided to call the lady from my cell phone and explain that I was almost to her place and asked if I could simply look at what she has with absolutely no intention of trying to purchase it. She said OK. It turned out to be a very nice condition Edison Standard model D with a seized mandrel (of course) a flowered morning glory horn and perhaps 25 Blue Amberol cylinders in a box. After looking at it for a couple of minutes I asked her if I could leave my name and telephone number on a slip of paper and attach it to the inside of the lid or underneath the cabinet. She said "I don't see why not...but I will tell you that we will likely never sell it...I'm sorry but we thought it over and we would like to keep it in the family...". I said "No problem at all" and thanked her for the opportunity to meet her and see what she had anyway. As I walked away I saw her put some scotch tape on the paper with my contact information and tape it on the inside of the lid. Ten years later I had completely forgotten about her and that Edison phonograph when the phone rang. "Is this Doug?"...."Yes"...."Well, this is {her name} and you left your name with me about an old phonograph years ago and we've decided that we're ready to sell it if you would still like it." I still had no idea what she was talking about until she explained what the phonograph looked like and then I remembered! She told me what she wanted for it and I said OK and jumped in the car with cash in hand and off I went to pick it up. I never...ever thought I would hear from her again but amazingly that little piece of paper helped all those years later!

Doug

[Player-Tone]

Every time I see something I want to buy on Craigslist the seller never responds to me- how does anything sell on this gosh darn sight!

[52089]

Every time I see something I want to buy on Craigslist the seller never responds to me- how does anything sell on this gosh darn sight!

The major problem with Craigslist is spam. A lot of people get bombarded with junk when they post anything, so a lot of the valid responses never even get seen by the poster. When I reply to a Craigslist ad, I usually add something like "I'm interested" to the subject and that helps. Sometimes.

There are also people who don't feel it's necessary to bother replying to every expression of interest, especially once a deal is worked out.

[gramophone78]

What I notice with any site like CL is..... anything that is a great deal is scooped up within minutes or even seconds after being posted.
I have also noticed that people who don't use CL very often to buy or sell don't realize their ad needs to be deleted after a sale.
I believe this is the case with this particular ad.

There are people who make their living on just CL deals.