What do you regret selling?

[Ampico66]

I purchased my first phonograph before I graduated high school, like most others on this group. Over the years I have decided to sell a few things, but have naturally bought a lot more. In looking back over my years of collecting, there are occasionally things that I would like to have held on to. What do *you* regret having sold, and why?

[VintageTechnologies]

I have a slight regret for selling an Edison Amberola 1A, but it went to a talented friend for a greater cause - complete restoration for posterity. It was a rough machine overall and I completed the motor and reproducer repairs to get it running. Since I don't have the experience or temperament for woodworking, staining, painting, etc. I did a horse trade with my friend. He knocked the loose cabinet completely apart into separate panels and re-glued all the joints. He repaired and/or replaced bad veneer, repainted the bedplate, etc. The machine looks new and I often drive across town to hear it again. Later on, I located a model "M" reproducer for my friend to play 2 minute cylinders. Fun!

[MTPhono]

Nothing so far because each sale allowed for bigger and better purchases. There are certainly phonos that I have regretted not buying (Edison Spring Motor with Bettini, Multiphone that I was outbid on at auction, an Edison Bell Commercial and an Edison Ajax). Looking back the prices were cheap in terms of todays values.

[Steve]

Like Scott, je ne regrette rien!

[kirtley2012]

Anything to theiving buyers!, i have just been ripped of of £60 on ebay, i am going to stop using ebay now!!
rant over!, nothing really, i anticipate what i would rather keep and sell and like MTPhono the funds from the items i sell go to bigger and better things!, i went through a stage where i would buy ANYTHING!, i am now at a stage trying to sell all of that off

[FloridaClay]

... i went through a stage where i would buy ANYTHING! ....

I expect most of us did that starting out Kirtley. I know I did. But maybe that is not a bad thing. I learned a lot that way and that led to becoming a more discriminating buyer. Even now I don't know how wise a buyer I am though. There are still those strong urges to buy derelicts to save them for posterity, even knowing full well that when they are restored I will have a lot more in them than they are worth.

Truth be told I have not really sold anything off yet. I get too attached to them. That may begin to happen, though, as I am almost at the place where to make room for something new something old will have to go.

Clay

[rgordon939]

Even though most of my collection consists of cylinder machines and cylinders, the one machine I definitely regret selling was my Victor M. I have regretted that since the day I sold it. Oh well, my loss.

Rich Gordon

[Lucius1958]

Only thing I've ever sold was a case for a Zonophone C.

I ran across it in an antique shop, listed as a 'box', with an unrelated lid sitting on it, and a clipped illustration pasted in the space where the celluloid tag had been. I had hoped I'd find a mechanism for it, and cleaned it, reglued it, and made some minor repairs.

Of course, I learned that the chances of finding a motor, etc. were slim; so I listed it in In the Groove, and sold it at a minimal profit (if any).

I don't regret it, and I hope the buyer found some use for it…

Bill

[TinfoilPhono]

I rarely have seller's remorse, much as Scott says. When I sell, it's usually to upgrade. I've had a lot of remorse over machines I failed to buy -- the ones that got away. But such is life in the world of collecting.

I do remember two regrets. One was a Zonophone A I bought in 1964. At $27 it was the most expensive phonograph I had ever bought to date. It was incomplete and far from mint, but I always considered it special. I traded it in a hopelessly lopsided deal where I got ripped off big time. It's my own fault, I wasn't that naive so I shouldn't have let my lust for them machine I got outweigh common sense, but so be it. But I have regretted it for 34 years, and I still harbor a grudge against the collector who so ruthlessly squeezed me for more and more and more. (And I long since sold the machine I traded to get.)

The other regret is another Zonophone: a B that was mint, complete with original carrying case. I was stupid to let that go, and for so little. I've tried many times to buy it back but the owner will never let it go.

But time heals all wounds. I made up for both a couple of years ago when I found a stunningly mint original A in original carrying case identical to the one my B came in. It's vastly better than my first one, and the case and condition make up for the loss of both the A & B. So life sometimes does offer a second chance.

Now to get a second chance at buying the ones that got away............

[Frankia]

I've bought and sold several gramophones, but the only one I really regret parting with was a HMV 163. It was in lovely condition and working perfectly with a great sound (allowing obviously for the fact that it was a 163). For all I got for it, I could have held on and paid my bills slightly more slowly.
I'm not interested in having another one instead - I have the largest of the HMV re-entrant gramophones, much superior in reproduction to the 163, and others which can out-perform a 163 to the power of ten (or whatever figure you personally prefer to pull out of the hat.) I just liked it very much and, unusually for me, allowed my head to rule my heart, and got it wrong as I usually do on the rare occasions I allow that to happen!