If You Knew Then What You Know Now...

[AmberolaAndy]

What would you have bought that you had passed up back when you were a novice and didn't have knowledge of certain items?

I personally would go back to September 14, 2015, and bought those Edison Needle Cut discs that I had absolutely no knowledge of. This was a few months before I started to seriously collect machines too. I already knew of Diamond Disc records at the time, but not these rare 1929 discs and I could have bought them for less than a dollar too. But nooooo I was afraid I wouldn't have enough money for some cheesy 70's stereo that I gave to goodwill less than a year later. 4 years later and I am still kicking myself for that. So did anyone else have that "If I only knew then what I know now." Moments And pass up on rare and valuable items because you had no knowledge of them at the time?

[drh]

My experience is the flip side of yours. Back in the early '80s or so, when I was living in Atlanta, on a whim I actually bought, as curiosities, two 10" popular needle cut Edison disks that turned up during a trip to a local flea market made with the express intention of picking up some Columbia complete opera 78 RPM sets (among them Boito's Mefistofele) that a friend had told me were for sale there. I was really excited to get the opera sets--which, today, are of somewhat questionable value. Never would have guessed the Edison pop records would be the real treasures from that trip! (That said, I'm seriously considering selling them to help finance some replacements for my well-worn set of custom styli; I don't really collect that music, and since then I have, at MUCH greater expense, purchased a 12" classical Edison lateral, so I still would have an example of the breed.)

No, what I would have done differently "if I knew then what I know now" mostly is passing up some things I did buy. For example, if I'd known then what I do now, I would not have bought a battered Credenza for what seemed like a bargain price; I'd have held out for a nicer one, which now would go for not a lot more than I paid for mine. I also would not have grossly overpaid for a Pathé 0 cylinder machine that turned out to be pretty much purely a display item, and I probably would not have bought a "Swissie" European machine that looks lovely but that I very seldom play. (I am considering putting my vertical cut adapter on it, however, and making it a dedicated player for Pathé disks.)

Now that I think about it, though, I guess my biggest "if I knew" would be how I treated a Brunswick--I think it was Seville--early electric era machine that I bought while still more or less a neophyte. After much elbow grease refinishing the thing, which was literally green from all the "freshening" coats of varnish/shellac/whatever it had received over the years, it turned out to have a gorgeous walnut cabinet with real burl inlay on the doors, but, alas, I did not know back then--as a high school kid in the pre-Internet, "information is hard to get" days, living outside a major metropolitan center--about the key importance of rebuilding reproducers or about how machines of one era are not necessarily appropriate for records of another. Most of my records at that time were acoustic or else big-band '40s, and the Brunswick just didn't sound all that good with either type. After no more than a year of ownership, I sold it to a couple that I'm pretty sure planned to gut it and turn it into a bar. In later years, I've never been able to shake the feeling that I really failed that machine.

[gramophone-georg]

What would you have bought that you had passed up back when you were a novice and didn't have knowledge of certain items?

I personally would go back to September 14, 2015, and bought those Edison Needle Cut discs that I had absolutely no knowledge of. This was a few months before I started to seriously collect machines too. I already knew of Diamond Disc records at the time, but not these rare 1929 discs and I could have bought them for less than a dollar too. But nooooo I was afraid I wouldn't have enough money for some cheesy 70's stereo that I gave to goodwill less than a year later. 4 years later and I am still kicking myself for that. So did anyone else have that "If I only knew then what I know now." Moments And pass up on rare and valuable items because you had no knowledge of them at the time?

Honestly? I'd like to kick you for that as well!

[gramophone-georg]

I wish I could go back to 2007- ish or so and stop myself from selling my Columbia Europa...

[AmberolaAndy]

What would you have bought that you had passed up back when you were a novice and didn't have knowledge of certain items?

I personally would go back to September 14, 2015, and bought those Edison Needle Cut discs that I had absolutely no knowledge of. This was a few months before I started to seriously collect machines too. I already knew of Diamond Disc records at the time, but not these rare 1929 discs and I could have bought them for less than a dollar too. But nooooo I was afraid I wouldn't have enough money for some cheesy 70's stereo that I gave to goodwill less than a year later. 4 years later and I am still kicking myself for that. So did anyone else have that "If I only knew then what I know now." Moments And pass up on rare and valuable items because you had no knowledge of them at the time?

Honestly? I'd like to kick you for that as well!

Well I did get all the 1901-1902 Pre-dog victors and Columbia Climaxes from that lot...at least I knew about those at the time. (Still haven’t found any that old in the wild in the 4 years since.) I assume it wasn’t the same Edison company that made the diamond discs (which at the time I only had one disc and no players yet) So it showed how much I knew back then...It was a year or so later before I realized my mistake...

[Lucius1958]

I'd have invested in better storage for my wax cylinders, some of which have succumbed to mold.

-Bill

[marcapra]

I had a similar experience with Edison needle cuts, but Edison 78s for less than a dollar and you turned it down? That's sheer lunacy! Or sheer ignorance I guess. I also turned down two Edison needle cuts. I turned them down over the phone too. I didn't realize they were mint! My friend said he would take $200 for Haydn's String Quartet op.33 no. 3 "The Bird" on two 12" Edison needle-cuts. I replied in my ignorance, "well maybe if they were on DDs I'd go for it, but I guess I'll pass". Then, at the APS show I saw that they were E+! They were put in the silent auction, where they sold for $575! So my biggest regret as a record collector is that my friend offered to give me the Bird, and I turned it down!

[AmberolaAndy]

I had a similar experience with Edison needle cuts, but Edison 78s for less than a dollar and you turned it down? That's sheer lunacy! Or sheer ignorance I guess. I also turned down two Edison needle cuts. I turned them down over the phone too. I didn't realize they were mint! My friend said he would take $200 for Haydn's String Quartet op.33 no. 3 "The Bird" on two 12" Edison needle-cuts. I replied in my ignorance, "well maybe if they were on DDs I'd go for it, but I guess I'll pass". Then, at the APS show I saw that they were E+! They were put in the silent auction, where they sold for $575! So my biggest regret as a record collector is that my friend offered to give me the Bird, and I turned it down!

I just plain didn’t know at the time! I guess it was my ignorance and naivety. When I started collecting machines in 2016 is when I really started getting educated on certain records. If they were there a year or two later I DEFINITELY would have scooped them up in a New York second! At least that makes two of us.

[marcapra]

And a year or two later a dealer would have them and price would be more like $150 each!

[AmberolaAndy]

And a year or two later a dealer would have them and price would be more like $150 each!

I know. I did an oopsie there. Just because I thought I didn’t have enough money for some 1971 8 track recorder receiver thing. Oh well. If it makes you feel better I did find a original 1957 copy of “The Chirping Crickets” on Brunswick for a Dollar.


Oh BTW, I also found my one and only Marconi record and two Early 30s Victor 33rpm records with sleeves but the artists on them are Wayne King and Jesse Crawford. And yet I passed up the Edison discs...