If only a few could stay

[VanEpsFan1914]

I'm organizing and I realized there were 5 cylinder machines here.

There's an Amberola 30, a Standard C I've been fussing with for a year now, a Gem A that needs a mandrel and other sundries, a 2/4 converted Home B that really is pretty good and wont take much to run (and has been that way two years now) and a Fireside A with a crane for a cygnet.

If I could only keep one it'd be the Home. If I could have two I'd keep it down to the Home and the Amberola. If three, tough call but the C Standard would have to oust the Fireside unless I swapped the case for an undrilled one with a 19” Fireside red horn.

Smaller machine collection is looking like a good idea and I wish I could display them all, but they do not have a spot.

I'm down to one displayed horn phonograph (Victor III, black m/g horn, and plain base-model Herzog record cabinet) and I actually really like this. I still have my Victrola XIV and my Panatrope and my A-200.

The 1917 VV-IV has to go eventually and so does the Vokal Gramophone which is in my living room waiting for a newly veneered top.

Phonograph collecting is a fun hobby but I think I am really going to have to get less phonographs. It was at 15 to 17 machines there for awhile. I think I have 12 now but really only use a few. Same with my typewriter collecting. A small, small collection of mint restored typewriters would be better than the dusty hoard of Machine Age iron I have right now.

If you could only keep a couple cylinder phonographs (or disc, or whatever) what would it be?

(And yes if I had to slim my disc machines down: the A-200, the Vic 3, and the XIV stay, and the XIV gets fitted with a later reproducer from an European portable.)

Feels like it is a little nuts here with the collection. But I have enjoyed the restorations and I do thoroughly enjoy listening to my collection.

[EdiBrunsVic]

It is nice to have a collection like yours but space is a consideration. For many years the collection at our home consists of eight phonographs. I now have seven but plan to get a small table model soon for use when I go to schools for special lessons about the old phonographs. I can play a record on all of my phonographs in less than a half hour. Some of that time is used to decide what to play. When we moved here from Texas I downsized my record collection too.
Don (now in Pennsylvania).

[Granby]

My wife and I were lucky (blessed) to buy a beautiful.... and somewhat large.. historic home well before the latest real estate boom. That said, I have quite a bit of extra space and a spare room to display my phonographs. That said, I am 100% sure we will downsize eventually. When that day comes, the working theory is to keep one or two examples from the major makers. For example, I would keep one of my early Grafonolas, an L Door Victrola, one Edison cylinder machine, and one Brunswick. However, since I have invested so much work into my sentimental quest writing about and researching the Granby Phonograph, I would probably still keep those and dedicate maybe one bedroom to a mock phonograph dealer's space....

I have already entered phase one: Stop buying - yes, it's easier said than done and one slips through every once in a while... But, seriously, I am just about done. I love the hobby and plan to remain active but I am out of room. If one does "slip through," another one is going to have to move along....

Phase two is tough, though: Selling - the market is awful on common machines. Yes, I know we can always "donate" to a young or aspiring collector.... But, the stars have to align perfectly to get the right person to actually show up.

So, as for now, I will stick with my "phase one" and selectively sell as the opportunity presents itself.

[zipcord]

I don't think the antique phonograph market will ever recover. I started collecting only 7 years ago, and I've seen nothing but a decline in value (except for the very very rare) on machines.

Look at Lionel Trains. The people that love these things are starting to leave the planet in mass

I do see an occasional outside horn machine on Zoom Conference Calls, but these guys just like to display them

The one thing I see interest in is records by the younger generations - they are tuned in to experiences rather than collecting

[drh]

I'm thinking in terms that I should downsize/reorient the collection to a smaller number of relatively "prime" machines, things that would have a hope of holding value and that wouldn't be too much trouble for my uninterested kid to sell off when I'm no longer crankin'.

The ones that could, and in the intermediate term probably will, go, in several cases despite some sentimental value: Victor Monarch Jr., Columbia AH, Pathé 0 "Democratique" cylinder machine, Pathé 100 upright disc machine, Victor Orthophonic Credenza, Victrola IX.

Would like to trade/sell and convert to an upgrade: Victor V; would like a Victor VI, although, were I being honest with myself, I could readily live with no acoustic machine for lateral cut records, as I play them almost exclusively on a modern turntable with a modern lightweight cartridge.

Definitely keep: Edison Triumph B with Model O reproducer and oak cygnet horn--the all-purpose solution to standard sized cylinders; Pathé Concert Model 20 open-horn, ditto for Pathé sapphire discs and their clones. Probably the Amberola 75, which I've come really to enjoy since Wyatt worked over the reproducer and which is doing yeoman service as a cylinder storage cabinet.

Conundrum: Edison diamond disc machines. Edisonic Schubert, C-250, A-150, three that "do the same thing" but not entirely interchangeable. The Schubert is something of a rarity and best for the electric discs; the C-250 is "commonplace" but has LP gearing; the A-150 is, I think, the best sounding of the lot, it has some serious sentimental attachment, and I've managed to assemble a complete albeit shopworn set of the Edison storage albums (ironically, worth more than the machine is)--plus I just like the looks of the "table model on stilts" design.

[drh]

It is nice to have a collection like yours but space is a consideration. For many years the collection at our home consists of eight phonographs. I now have seven but plan to get a small table model soon for use when I go to schools for special lessons about the old phonographs. I can play a record on all of my phonographs in less than a half hour. Some of that time is used to decide what to play. When we moved here from Texas I downsized my record collection too.
Don (now in Pennsylvania).

I wrote you a PM, but it looks as if it may have disappeared into the ether instead of actually sending. If it didn't land, please let me know!

[EdiBrunsVic]

Hi....try my e-mail: [email protected] The PM did not seem to transmit.

[drh]

Hi....try my e-mail: [email protected] The PM did not seem to transmit.

OK, thanks--I've sent you an e-mail.

[Skihawx]

I think it is just hopeless for me. My survivors will have to deal with my collection.

[victor 15-1]

My survivors consider themselves lucky (as they should be) to be "burdened" with my collection whatever the value or lack there of when I am gone