What was this ???

[jamiegramo]

Speaking of bargains this nice looking mahogany horned Monarch gramophone just sold for £255. Or was it even less? Clicking on ‘bid’ it appears the only bid amount was £50 and listed for just a day. Did the seller accept an offer and end the listing early? Why are some sellers so impatient? I would have paid 3 times X £255 for the horn alone.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286944856600

[Steve]

Speaking of bargains this nice looking mahogany horned Monarch gramophone just sold for £255. Or was it even less? Clicking on ‘bid’ it appears the only bid amount was £50 and listed for just a day. Did the seller accept an offer and end the listing early? Why are some sellers so impatient? I would have paid 3 times X £255 for the horn alone.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286944856600

Yes, some clueless dandy did indeed let this go for all of £50! The mind boggles; in 2025 with the over-saturation of antique programs on the TV for the past few decades and yet there are still some people out there who don't have a clue about values of anything other than their mobile phones! It is truly baffling how someone will not take two minutes to Google anything to ascertain a rough idea of value before agreeing to accept a derisory offer. Just tell me it wasn't anyone here who bought it! To think that the buyer risked waiting for a response to their paltry offer and potentially losing it to someone offering at least the buy it now price, which as you say, was incredibly cheap already.

Bl**dy miser!

[jamiegramo]

Looking at completed listings can be educational but sometimes really frustrating when you see things like this!

[Steve]

Looking at completed listings can be educational but sometimes really frustrating when you see things like this!

Yes, I agree, that's why I never go down that road!

If the Spanish machine selling for £2.5K wasn't enough to make me sick, this double spring Doric at £50 with wooden horn, certainly was. I bought the same identical machine at the beginning of the year for exactly £1200 more! And the journey to collect it was twice as long as the Ebay example would have been for me.

[Steve]

Okay, I'll play for a minute...........

Here's another one we all missed. Well, we saw it and discussed it here but couldn't decide if the moldings were original or not. I couldn't anyway as I do not trust auctioneers' lousy photography. Had I managed to visit the auction it might have been different. I did bid conservatively but didn't win it. The buyer sold it on and got an unbelievably incredible price for the "Model Villa"! Yes, although not a gramophone expert, the buyer did at least read a copy of "His Master's Gramophone", where it gets a mention and makes this all the more laughable. For the benefit of the uninitiated, there is no model "Villa" as the seller has someone misread Villa for VIIa - meaning "7a"! Didn't it sell at auction for under £1000?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/257193137517

[Steve]

Didn't it sell at auction for under £1000?

Yes, it did, Steve!

HMV Villa Cranham .png (70.16 KiB) Viewed 411 times

[Steve]

Good news for some: the £50 Doric shown above will be making a reappearance on Ebay very soon. Apparently some auctioneer valued it at £20!!!!!

[Steve]

Here it is:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286975614651?

[JerryVan]

Nice. I really like that! If only it were local...

[Steve]

Nice. I really like that! If only it were local...

Yes, it really is. Unfortunately getting anywhere in the UK today with our terrible roads and traffic levels, makes this seem far away to anyone not living in Tunbridge Wells!