Auction report

[JohnM]

Went to an auction today about a half-hour away from Madison toward Louisville in Charlestown, Indiana. There were several phonographs there -- about two tables of them -- mostly Standards, Homes, a Fireside, a disc Busy Bee, Columbia BF, etc. There was one suitcase Home with an Automatic reproducer. The two highlights were a banner-front Triumph with a Weber chain-driven repeater and a back-mount Victor MS with black & brass horn and record hold-down. I was going to hang around until I spied Steve Oliphant there (practically in my backyard!), so then I just left -- well before the bidding began. One of the collectors in attendance from Ohio stopped by to see our collection on his way back and told me that the suitcase Home went for $850, the MS went for $1900, and the Triumph hit $4250.

Weber repeater from rear of machine:

Weber repeater01.jpg (27.84 KiB) Viewed 1536 times

[phonogfp]

Those Weber repeaters are pretty cool, aren't they? Much more complicated than the Model D repeaters that replaced them in 1904.

Was all the rigamarole still present near the straight-edge to raise the carriage? Judging from the high bid, I'd expect so...

George P.

[JohnM]

Actually, no . . . all the fancy bent rods, etc. were gone! I figured it was going to go off at $3K. The extra $1.25K surprised me!

[phonogfp]

Gosh - - me too!

The "MS" sounds like a pretty good deal, depending on its condition. The "Home" with an Automatic seems pretty reasonable too, if it was in good shape. Looks like everyone there wanted that repeater! Some auctions are like that, aren't they?

George P.

[Aaron]

Those Weber repeaters are pretty cool, aren't they? Much more complicated than the Model D repeaters that replaced them in 1904.

Was all the rigamarole still present near the straight-edge to raise the carriage? Judging from the high bid, I'd expect so...

George P.

George,

What do you mean by "rigamarole"? I'm sure I've heard the word, but just seeing (not hearing it) I'm sure I'm pronouncing it wrong and just misunderstanding.

Curiously,
Aaron

[phonogfp]

Aaron,

Looks like I misspelled "rigmarole" - - and on my first attempt, too! Sorry about that. Sounds like "rig'-muh-roll" and defined as a jumble of words; disconnected talk with little sense. In colloquial use, any round-about route, unnecessary complication, or red tape is sometimes referred to as rigmarole. As in, "If I'd known that Graphophones used a reverse thread on the upper pulley nut, I wouldn't be going through all this rigmarole now!" Or, "Why didn't she just tell me to paint the ceiling instead of going through all this rigmarole?"

On reflection, maybe I should have used the word "claptrap..."

George P.

[JohnM]

Those Weber repeaters are pretty cool, aren't they? Much more complicated than the Model D repeaters that replaced them in 1904.

Was all the rigamarole still present near the straight-edge to raise the carriage? Judging from the high bid, I'd expect so...

George P.

George,

What do you mean by "rigamarole"? I'm sure I've heard the word, but just seeing (not hearing it) I'm sure I'm pronouncing it wrong and just misunderstanding.

Curiously,
Aaron

Hi Aaron,

Not to jump in ahead of George here since you asked the question of him, not me . . . and not to sound like I'm lecturing you -- but, don't forget, the answer to your question is as simple as typing "define rigamarole" into Google. Google/the world wide web is a wonderful tool. As I've said here before in other unrelated discussions, it amazes me how some people can manage to operate eBay or Craigslist well enough to list something for sale, but not operate Google well enough to accurately determine just what the heck it is that they are selling! The collective knowledge of all mankind available with a few keystrokes. It still amazes me!