![[The Talking Machine Forum - For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings]](/styles/we_universal/theme/images/the_talking_machine_forum.png)
Let me "set up the pins" for this story, so we can knock them all down together at the conclusion of the drama. YES, there WILL be drama here, folks. And I have toned this down a lot, as it has been a somewhat therapeutic activity writing all this out.
Before leaving for this trip, I cleared a corner of my office to receive "the machines" that I would be winning at the auction, because through sheer will power (and a false sense of clairvoyance) I knew I would be the winner. Went to the bank, took out cash, fueled up the car, and off I went at 2PM on Friday. So, right here I must illustrate that I had an emotional involvement with machines I didn't even own yet. This is definitely an characteristic of some form of Gramophone illness.
16 hours in my car, with a 1.5 hr delay in West Orange NJ, a stone's throw from the Edison Site, due to flooding in the road. The drive through the North Carolina countryside was calming, and definitely sweeter smelling. I'm good on long drives, especially when phonographs are involved. I'm sure some of my fellow board members can relate!
I arrived at the gallery. The sheer accumulation was amazing. The smell of the room was rather inviting.....old oak and grease. I could probably bottle it and sell it at MAPS meetings. "Old Oak and Grease, by MicaMonster." It wouldn't attract people, just phonographs.
Just about every Victor phonograph had a gold spray painted soundbox from a cheap wind-up portable, every Edison cylinder player had a Model-C (instead of an Automatic, or even a Model-K), just about every Graphophone had a bad 70's reproduction reproducer that looked like it was cast in a box of Cheerio crumbs, and the amount of cabinets with re-drilled holes to accept mis-matched back brackets (without filling in the botched holes), was amazing.
Me, being the details-oriented little weasel that I am, made mental notes of everything WRONG that I found, and at the end of the romp, I found myself more than just a little disenchanted with the auction. I was ready to walk out cold. But, friends of mine showed up, and made it a good social occasion. Looking back in retrospect, this ultimately saved my soul. *a little*
I did a lot of technical analysis for folks, "holding court," some may call it. Stuff like, "that traveling arm is a repro," or "that crank goes to a Victor-E, not a Berliner," or "stand here...look at the finish....do you see what I see???", "this is a NICE one," "that's an EARLY one," "check out what happens when I push this button," and stuff like that. I'm a rotten nebbish. I felt bad being so critical and devoid of humor. For gosh sakes, this was one man's passionate hobby. And here I am, picking it all apart. I'm going to roast in aych-eey-el-el for that.
Large crowd attendance. I was expecting maybe 100, but looked to be over 225 (possibly 260) in attendance. Lots of the expected dealers (and usual suspects) showed up, and even they looked a little mystified by what they found. What surprised me was the large crowd of local folk that showed up, just to quench their curiosity. I met a lot of friendly people, and had lots of memorable conversations about non-phono stuff, if you can believe that!
Prices realized absolutely left me with my head spinning (both the HIGH and LOW prices!), after hearing from many on this board that the attendance and exchange of machines at Union was a little disappointing. I was expecting $2500 machines to sell for $1850. $500 machines to sell for $375. $8,000 machines to sell for $5000. And ye know what? Some of them DID. If you wanted a Victor 6 or an Edison Opera for a bargain basement price, you were at the right place. The gold plated Triumph (complete with its Edison signature plate) sold for less than $2000! That was the deal of the day, in my opinion. And the Class-M fetched $16,000, very respectable. I also felt that the juke boxes should have gone for more than a couple thousand each, I guess the buyers for those weren't in the gallery.
But (and this is a BIG BUT) there were A LOT of unexpected high (and HIGHER) bids on some items. Items which should have sold for $100-$750, sold for DOUBLE and TRIPLE their value. I understand that "it only takes two bidders," but some of the item prices were truly ridiculous. Wait...lemme re-type that: RIDICULOUS.
I came to buy and take home 5-6 machines. When each of them came up to bid, I was not only out-bid, but the bidding ran on into high digits that pushed my nerves so hard that I wanted to stand up and literally yell at the competing bidder, "WILL YOU PLEASE STOP! JUST STOP IT! STOP IT!!!!!!!"
This is the First Time at an auction that physical symptoms of being ill-at-ease manifested themselves. I broke out in hives on both of my arms, and sweat droplets rained down from my forehead, saturating my brow.
I think this happened to me, because I had thoroughly convinced myself that I was going to pay full price (and a little more), and bring these little gifts home for myself, and not for resale. I lost sleep over this auction 4 nights prior to leaving. I was stoked and focused, and didn't have a "Plan B" for my emotional state if I didn't win the items, because I was positive that I was going to be the crazy-bidder that "paid too much."
I am comfortable paying a little more than something is worth if I really want it. That is, more than its "book value," not emotional value (that's the wildcard).
I am the *CRAZY* Edison Diamond Disc collector, am I not? But sensibility does have its limits.
So, I left the auction EMPTY-HANDED. Ok, I did have a coffee stain on my shirt....so I did take something home other than my being emotionally deflated. Whole drive back I was downright sad.
I think the continuation auction on the 24th/25th is going to be AWESOME. Lots of real treasures will surface. And after all this drama, I still want to go back!!!!!!!!
-Mica
