Brady Jefcoat Museum

[m0xiemama]

Might have to do with the size of the state. I see lots for sale in PA but more on the Philly side than the Pittsburgh side where I am. Although, I don't think I have done too bad for myself....7 phonographs since May for a total of....$445. And I have 2 waiting in New England

[Tinkerbell]

Might have to do with the size of the state. I see lots for sale in PA but more on the Philly side than the Pittsburgh side where I am. Although, I don't think I have done too bad for myself....7 phonographs since May for a total of....$445. And I have 2 waiting in New England

Does this mean pretty soon we'll be hearing that you and your husband will be building a barn or outbuilding to house your newfound collections and workshop??

BTW, did you ever find your dancing phono doll?

[m0xiemama]

Haha we always said we wanted to live on a farm. Now we will have to move just so I have a place for my collection. My house is filling up as it is.

A forum member sent me a link for one in an online auction coming up that I am watching closely. It comes on a VV-IV. Rastus is out there and he isn't too expensive so I think I'll manage to come up with on by my birthday.

[syncopeter]

The main reason why HMV kept making spring driven - larger and smaller - cabinet machines, way after Victor had switched over to fully electric machines, was indeed the lack of electricity in the more rural parts of of Greater Britain. One of Dorothy L Sayers' novels, situated in the mid 30s (AND written in that period) talks about a battery operated radio and oil lamps.
Here in Holland the situation was slightly different. My late father, born in 1912 well remembered the moment they got 'the new light', i.e. electric lighting. That was in 1926, when he was 14. In my mother's mother's house, there was electric lighting, but not in the hallway. That was still lighted by an oil lamp. She had one, yes one, mains outlet and that was in the early 60s.
In my parents' house, dating from 1949, there was one mains contact on the first floor (second floor for our friends overseas), intended to plug in a vacuum cleaner. Electricity was a rare and costly commodity. The flat I'm currently living in dates from 1958 and has one mains contact per bedroom. It is well built, was definitely upmarket when it was built, its layout designed by Gerrit Rietveld, one of the foremost Dutch designers. Remember, in most households up to the mid 60s, most households had only 2 electric appliances: a vac and a radio. We were lucky; there was one in the kitchen for a washing machine, one in the living room to connect a radio to and as said one on the first floor. That was considered to be a luxury for the lower middle class family I come from. My dad was an important representative for a big timber merchant, so we did have a car and telephone, but we were one of the three families in our street to have that luxury.
Due to the horrors of WWII we Europeans were dead poor.
I well remember driving home from a party at my fathers' office (a distance of 120 KM, or for you non-metrics 75 miles). I tended to count the cars on the other side of the road. The average was around 120 on a 1.5 hour trip. And that was on one of the busiest roads in the Netherlands. Today you lose count after 45 seconds.

[EFearing]

As a side note, this was NOT the entire collection. He had kept the best machines, (and some junk) in his 1700sq ft home in Raliegh> Two years ago he went into a nursing home and his attorney authorized a sale of his remaining collection. I attended that sale and was floored at the prices these things brought!! FULL retail!! Just shows you what good advertizing and auction histerics can create!! Ed

I had heard of Mr. Jefcoat years ago. He has to be the guy that I was told about with all the barns and warehouses in North Carolina. I was also told he hada double bomb Victor "Period" model but it dosn't appear that it has turned up.

The auction of his personal collection was held in two parts, one in an auction house, and one on sight. The Victor Peroid model must have been in the auction on sight, because I didn't see it at the first one and didn't go to the second. I understand that the attorney stopped the second auction after an hour or so, evidently things were not going as high as the first auction! I would love to know what happened to the rest.

[EFearing]

I have only heard about Mr Jefcoat in passing, many thanks for the great pics and the news of his status----as well as that of his collection. The buffet-sideboard looking machine has sort of the look of an Aeolian-Vocalion but I have never seen such a machine. Do you think that one was factory or an after-market assemblage?

Mr Jefcoat is lucky to see his dream of "all together, all in one place" realized in his lifetime. Glad that worked out for him---as we all know, that's not a common situation.

The sideboard phono was an "Allport" evidently an english make. I have seen other huge sideboard machines, many of them English, but some are American makes like Sonora, and Aeolian. I have one that was made by Strand. It looks like one of those 1920's sideboards that incorporated English and Spanish design. It is about 5-6 ft long. I also have an Orsenigo that looks somewhat like a sideboard.

[EFearing]

There sure are a lot of phonographs down in North Carolina!
Jeff

I was thinking the same thing about Pennsylvania... seems like a lot of phonographs for sale on Ebay and CL originate there. It made me wonder why certain areas seem to be so saturated with them; perhaps lack of power on farms?

This is Great. Many of my machines came from Pa, NY, NJ and points north! North Carolina is quite rural, plus many people threw out antiquated machines without any remorse. This is why at an early age I could find them on the street on trash days! I find that the larger more expensive ones are found in and around big cities. My Edison C-450 came from Philly via e-bay a few years ago. It had been on e-bay twice with a starting bid of $150. I got it the second round for the opening bid, and then had to go and get it, a story in itself!

[EFearing]

Here are some more pics of the Collection

[Tinkerbell]

The main reason why HMV kept making spring driven - larger and smaller - cabinet machines, way after Victor had switched over to fully electric machines, was indeed the lack of electricity in the more rural parts of of Greater Britain. One of Dorothy L Sayers' novels, situated in the mid 30s (AND written in that period) talks about a battery operated radio and oil lamps.
Here in Holland the situation was slightly different. My late father, born in 1912 well remembered the moment they got 'the new light', i.e. electric lighting. That was in 1926, when he was 14. In my mother's mother's house, there was electric lighting, but not in the hallway. That was still lighted by an oil lamp. She had one, yes one, mains outlet and that was in the early 60s.
In my parents' house, dating from 1949, there was one mains contact on the first floor (second floor for our friends overseas), intended to plug in a vacuum cleaner. Electricity was a rare and costly commodity. The flat I'm currently living in dates from 1958 and has one mains contact per bedroom. It is well built, was definitely upmarket when it was built, its layout designed by Gerrit Rietveld, one of the foremost Dutch designers. Remember, in most households up to the mid 60s, most households had only 2 electric appliances: a vac and a radio. We were lucky; there was one in the kitchen for a washing machine, one in the living room to connect a radio to and as said one on the first floor. That was considered to be a luxury for the lower middle class family I come from. My dad was an important representative for a big timber merchant, so we did have a car and telephone, but we were one of the three families in our street to have that luxury.
Due to the horrors of WWII we Europeans were dead poor.
I well remember driving home from a party at my fathers' office (a distance of 120 KM, or for you non-metrics 75 miles). I tended to count the cars on the other side of the road. The average was around 120 on a 1.5 hour trip. And that was on one of the busiest roads in the Netherlands. Today you lose count after 45 seconds.

Wow. Reading this makes me realize how much we (or, I guess I should say I) take something like our access to electrical power for granted.

That said, my husband's family grew up in the Black Hills of SD and his family lived in a tiny little house with no indoor plumbing (10 kids and 2 parents!), no automobile for many years, and did not get a telephone until the mid-70's.

As I grew up in Southern California, it is hard for me to wrap my mind around those realities of life... especially when I start whining about having to use the sometimes aromatic vault toilets (a fancy term for outhouse) when we are camping. I am, by no means, a princess... but having a reality check like this makes me realize how much I take for granted daily.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now...

[gregbogantz]

Well, it didn't appear that there were many phonos actually for sale in NC when I and another collector buddy of mine were rooting around for them 10 years ago. Evidently McCarn and Jeffcoat had taken them all out of circulation by that time. About all that was left were common Edisons, Victors, and Brand Xs, all in lousy condition. I wound up finding more good stuff in the upstate New York and Pennsylvania area than down here in NC. I think the actual story is that mostly rural and agrarian NC was impoverished for many years compared with the middle class workers in the industrial north. So you can find lots of Edison Standards in crappy shape in barns here and there, but you won't be finding any Edison C-2s or Victor Auxetophones here.